"We met with the mayor and he essentially apologized. He said he would do his best to make it right as soon as possible," said Kim Coyne-Lupinacci, a school nurse and negotiator with Local 1199. "He also said it rested with the Board of Education."
In a written statement, Finch said Friday he shared his opinion directly with school system officials and has been in regular contact with them to make sure the nurses get paid the money they are owed.
" I've made my position completely clear -- the nurses should be paid. Ultimately, however, it is up to the Board of Education to make sure that this happens," he said.
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School officials countered that the city labor relations office, under control of the city administration, took the lead in negotiating a new four-year contract with nurses. Carole Pannozzo, the district's human resources director, was part of the negotiation team.
"This is not a contract we negotiated," said Robert Henry, chief of staff for the Board of Education. "We commend our nurses for their hard work and dedication which they have demonstrated and the invaluable service they provide our students. This issue ultimately is about miscommunication between the parties negotiating the contract and not a desire to treat our nurses unfairly."
The new deal froze salaries of school nurses for the life of the contract and increased health insurance premiums in exchange for shifting to a 10-month work schedule. Nurses who remained with the city as public health nurses -- and who work a 12-month schedule -- got raises of 9 percent over the life of the contract. School nurses say they were assured during negotiations they would continue to be paid annual salaries of about $54,581 and that the pay schedule would remain at 52 weeks. They were shocked in July when the checks stopped.
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On the steps of City Hall this summer when confronted by picketing nurses, Finch also said nurses should not be paid when they don't work.
City and school officials maintain that with the new contract, the new pay schedule did not kick in until school started in September, giving them an eight-week pass before the 52-week cycle gets under way, in essence slicing $8,000 off the annual pay of the nurses for this school year and saving the board $230,000. The nurses say this is something they never would have agreed to and is not in any contract language signed by the two sides.
Checks were made available to school nurses in early August. To get them, nurses had to sign a form saying they would have to pay the money back if they left the school system over the course of the coming year and that the summer pay would be treated as an advance ,with their 2009-10 salary reduced accordingly.
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"That was unacceptable. We are not going to accept a lower pay. All 26 of us believe this is such a wrong thing. I am taking this as far as I can," said Coyne-Lupinacci. "I don't believe they would treat us like this. We have been faithful employees for years. It's unbelievable ... I cannot believe how dishonest people can be. I am shocked."
On Aug. 13, the two sides had a preconference hearing with a state labor board mediator. Coyne-Lupinacci said the mediator is recommending the nurses have a valid case and has scheduled a hearing before the full State Labor Board in Wethersfield. A date has yet to be set.
"He asked the board where it says nurses would be paid a lower salary. He said the Board of Education needs to pay nurses their salary," Coyne-Lupinacci said of the negotiator. She said the city and school board did not move from their position.
Coyne-Lupinacci said the real losers will be the students when half the nursing staff has to take off on a school day to travel to Wethersfield sometime this fall to testify at a hearing on their labor complaint.
"You know the hearing won't be scheduled on a weekend or holiday. Think of the resources they are wasting," she said.
(c) _YellowBrix 2009_ Nurses Press for Remedy for Summer Pay Gap: On Friday Received 1st Check in 2 MonthsOriginally from: http://www.nursinglink.com/news/articles/8882-nurses-press-for-remedy-for-summer-pay-gap-on-friday-received-1st-check-in-2-months
View this post on my blog: http://travelnursesuccess.com/nurses-press-for-remedy-for-summer-pay-gap-on-friday-received-1st-check-in-2-months
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