From Barbara Meyer
Argyle
To the editor:
I recently received specialist care at a UW Clinic. The quality of care was superb. It is not uncommon for people in our geographic area to use UWHC services, specifically because of that high quality of care. But when politicians made the hasty decision to include UWHC in Act 10, they put that quality at risk.
Anyone who has been provided care by a professional nurse, or whose loved one has been provided care, knows how important it is that that nurse be alert, unhurried, and at the top of his/her mental and emotional capacity. When nurses are required to work overtime hours and double shifts, or work with too few staff for the number and acuity of the patients, errors in judgment, medication errors, and sloppy care can result.
Patient care will suffer if UWHC employees lose their union rights.
Unions have played a key role in keeping workplace standards, and thus quality of care, in an excellent state. For example, they have not allowed forced overtime, which puts patient safety and well-being at high risk.
Many important factors in addition to wages and salaries are included in bargaining between employer and employee. Hours, nurse-to-patient ratio, working conditions, and non-wage benefits are some of those factors. It is the on-site worker who understands all of these factors, and must have a voice in setting standards, responsibilities, and limits. Unions help make sure that this happens. A union employee is more apt to speak up when issues of quality arise. UWHC needs to continue to recognize unions as the voice of the employees and commit to continue policies embodied in collective bargaining agreements.
Argyle
To the editor:
I recently received specialist care at a UW Clinic. The quality of care was superb. It is not uncommon for people in our geographic area to use UWHC services, specifically because of that high quality of care. But when politicians made the hasty decision to include UWHC in Act 10, they put that quality at risk.
Anyone who has been provided care by a professional nurse, or whose loved one has been provided care, knows how important it is that that nurse be alert, unhurried, and at the top of his/her mental and emotional capacity. When nurses are required to work overtime hours and double shifts, or work with too few staff for the number and acuity of the patients, errors in judgment, medication errors, and sloppy care can result.
Patient care will suffer if UWHC employees lose their union rights.
Unions have played a key role in keeping workplace standards, and thus quality of care, in an excellent state. For example, they have not allowed forced overtime, which puts patient safety and well-being at high risk.
Many important factors in addition to wages and salaries are included in bargaining between employer and employee. Hours, nurse-to-patient ratio, working conditions, and non-wage benefits are some of those factors. It is the on-site worker who understands all of these factors, and must have a voice in setting standards, responsibilities, and limits. Unions help make sure that this happens. A union employee is more apt to speak up when issues of quality arise. UWHC needs to continue to recognize unions as the voice of the employees and commit to continue policies embodied in collective bargaining agreements.
