Labor Board Restores Cambridge Hospital Nurse Benefits

Cambridge Health Alliance CEO Dennis D. Keefe says the nonprofit health system is reviewing legal options in the wake of a state labor board ruling that struck down CHA's unilateral cuts to health benefits for retired nurses at Cambridge Hospital.

Massachusetts' Commonwealth Employment Relations Board ruled that CHA violated state labor laws and failed to demonstrate sufficient financial need when it declared an impasse in negotiations and cut health benefits for retired nurses by 40%. The unilaterally imposed cuts raised retirees' share of health insurance to 50%, up from 10%.

"We continue to believe our negotiations with the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents the Cambridge Hospital nurses, were conducted fairly and with proper consideration," Keefe said in a media release following Friday's ruling by CERB.

Keefe says CHA imposed the cuts at a time when some private and government entities were shelving pensions and retiree health plans and abandoning former employees. "We wanted to retain a fair benefit. We feel that providing 50% of a retiree's healthcare costs is a reasonable and affordable offer to our public employees," he said.

MNA called the ruling "a complete victory" for nurses at Cambridge Hospital, saying CERB "flatly rejected the hospital's claim that it was eligible for an exception in this particular case, due to 'externally imposed' and 'economic' circumstances beyond their control."

CERB ordered CHA to post a notice to employees stating that it had violated state labor laws, and that the health system is taking corrective action that includes:

• Restoring all terms of retirees health insurance benefits for all MNA members that were in effect before CHA made the cuts.
• Participating in good faith collective bargaining that includes mediation, fact-finding, or arbitration.
• Making whole employees for economic losses suffered from CHA's cuts.

"We are thrilled and vindicated by the board's ruling," says Betty Kaloustian, a nurse at Cambridge Hospital and chair of the nurses' local bargaining unit. "The board got it right. Our employer had an obligation to negotiate with us and they chose not to. Unfortunately, the hospital's actions have had a devastating impact on those nurses who they were trying to force to retire, not to mention the impact on all the other nurses who were seeing their benefit slashed. We are appalled at the lack of respect shown to those nurses who have given their heart and soul to this institution."

MNA Executive Director Julie Pinkham says state labor laws "couldn't be more clear on this point, and we are amazed that this public employer tried to claim otherwise."

"While this case is settled, we can only hope those who made these unlawful decisions are held accountable for the financial cost involved in creating this crisis, as well as for the impact these actions will have on the nurses' trust in the CHA administration going forward," Pinkham says.

Keefe believes CHA's record deficit in 2009 and other pressures on the public safety net hospital "were conclusive and compelling evidence of the serious economic threat under which we are operating."

In the last two years, he said, CHA has closed six health centers, all inpatient services at Somerville Hospital, inpatient pediatric services, 35 adult psychiatric beds, and ceased offering inpatient addictions services. "In doing so, we have had to reduce our work force by 450 full-time employees. That just gets us to where we are today: still confronting the forces of a deteriorating economy and a healthcare environment that is experiencing declining volumes, shrinking reimbursement, and continuing pressures from state and federal health care reform," Keefe said. "If this does not meet the definition of financial exigency, I'm not sure what would."

The CERB ruling doesn't change the financial facts for CHA, Keefe says.

"Unlike municipalities, we don't have taxing authority and cannot raise revenues to cover massively rising costs," he adds. "While we remain ready and eager to return to the bargaining table and develop a mutually agreeable labor contract, we need to be clear that the MNA's rejection of CHA's reasoned proposal threatens CHA's future."