Nurses from the Service Employees International Union District 199W/ UP, patients and community members gathered on the Capitol steps Tuesday evening with alarm clocks in hand to send legislators a wake-up call: Ban mandatory overtime for health care workers.
“It’s time for our elected senators and representatives to become part of the solution to this crisis in nursing,” said Judy Thomsen-Lopez, Meriter Hospital nurse.
Senate Bill 211, the mandatory overtime bill, passed the Senate in February, and Assembly companion bill 457 passed the Assembly Health Committee in January. However, the Assembly leadership refused to schedule AB 457 or SB 211 for a vote by the full Assembly. The bills died but will be reintroduced when the next session begins in January 2003.
“Nurses have a huge constituency in the state of Wisconsin,” said Rep. Gregg Underheim, R-Oshkosh. “If they organize effectively, they could become a powerful political force in the state. They have the geography, proximity and public respect necessary to become a politically powerful organization.”
Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, distributed the voting list from the recent session, so rally members could identify which Assembly representatives are “friends and enemies” of banning mandatory overtime.
“Senate Democrats will continue to pass mandatory overtime legislation until it becomes law,” said Rep. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton. “Nothing will make me prouder than passing legislation that says ‘your shift is over, time to go home.'”
Rep. Duwayne Johnsrud, R-Eastman, said banning mandatory overtime is important.
“Banning mandatory overtime is about respect for your profession. I couldn’t get it done this time in the Assembly,” Johnsrud said. “The health care industry killed this with money and influence. We’ll lose some battles, but this is a much bigger war we’re waging.”
While mandatory overtime began as a rarely used response to emergency situations, hospitals have increased the use of mandatory overtime as a cost-cutting measure.
“There is no reason why this bill should not have passed this session; the entire labor movement is with you. [Working overtime] is an issue for all working people,” said David Newby, President of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.
Savings due to mandatory overtime are unclear. Due to the nursing shortage, hospitals hire traveling nurses to fill in gaps. Hospitals pay traveling nurses salaries and bonuses.
“Mandatory overtime causes nursing shortage, patient harm and it costs too much,” Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, said.
Though the bill garnered bipartisan support from numerous legislators, it will face opposition in the upcoming session.
Today, nurses from Wisconsin and across the nation will make phone calls to federal legislators urging them to pass the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act currently pending in Congress, which would ban mandatory overtime for nurses except during a declared emergency. This effort is part of a national “Wake-Up Call” to Congress, organized by the SEIU Nurse Alliance.
