Massachusetts Nurses Association

“The mna is directed and run by the membership with an elected board of directors and a grassroots organizational structure. With regional councils in five different regions of the state, members have an opportunity to become involved in the mna on local issues and concerns. The mna also provides members with an opportunity to influence nursing and other healthcare issues on a national level.”

“The members vote for their board of directors and make governing decisions at their annual convention.”

“The members vote for their board of directors and make governing decisions at their annual convention.”

“The board of directors has delegated the responsibility for reviewing, approving and signing the form 990 to the president. The form 990 is made available to any director upon request.”

“The massachusetts nurses association has a conflict of interest policy in place. Annually each board member is required to disclose if there are any conflicts. The board reviews the disclosures and takes whatever action is needed to resolve the conflict.”

“The board of directors determines the compensation for their organization's president, directors and management. This process includes review and approval by independent persons, comparability data, and contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberation and decision.”

“The organizational governing documents, financial statements and form 990 are available upon request to the general public.”

“The mission of the mna, the association for registered nurses, is to preserve the identity, integrity, and continuity of professional nursing in the commonwealth of massachusetts. The purpose of the mna, unrestricted by consideration of nationality, race, creed, religion, lifestyle, color, sex, handicap, or age, shall be to: - work for the improvement and availability of health care services for all people. - foster high standards of nursing practice, education, research, and nursing administration. - promote the professional development of nurses. - advance the economic and general welfare of nurses. - act and speak for nurses in massachusetts. The functions of the mna shall be to improve the profession by: - providing for quality in nursing practice by promoting the implementation of standards for nursing practice and standards for nursing services. - providing for quality in nursing education by promoting standards for nursing education (undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education) - promoting and providing for the professional, economic, and general welfare of nurses through the development and implementation of standards. - promoting and providing for the continuing education of nurses through the implementation of standards for continuing education in nursing. - informing both the nurse and society of the profession's expectations and requirements in ethical matters.”

“Division of nursing interim director joe-ann fergus associate directors mary crotty mary sue howlett carol mallia charlene richardson peg tayler christine pontus joe twarog deb sullivan department assistants theresa yannetty elizabeth chmielinski susan clish donna olson public health & safety consultant jonathan rosen kevin kavanaugh ethics consultant sarah moroney during the past year, the division focused on issues and programs that impact the health and safety needs of frontline nurses amidst the covid-19 global pandemic. Sarah moroney guided the center for ethics as a part-time consultant. The director and associate directors continued to investigate and assist in providing resolution regarding issues involving nursing practice. Kevin kavanaugh md infectious disease and global health specialist and jonathan rosen industrial hygienist continue to function as consultants offering their expertise and guidance in assisting mna in vetting emerging protocols and policies as employers work toward "normalizing" operations. Their expertise has help guide recommendations related to effective personal protective equipment and has been a valuable resource during this ongoing global crisis. Initiatives that continue to receive positive feedback by the membership were: free continuing education programs are offered to all mna members and associate members. The place-holder fee continues for all mna programs. This eliminates wait lists and accurately predicts attendance numbers. The place holder fee structure is as follows: $25.00 half-day program, $50.00 full day program and $75.00 for the annual clinical conference. Members are not charged the place-holder fee if they attend the program. This same fee structure is also implemented for regional programs. In addition, a fee of $100.00 is required to register for acls with a nonrefundable fee of $50.00 for the workbook. The mna has tentatively scheduled a virtual zoom classroom. The mna adapted our practices and changed location in order to meet the need to provide acls while maintaining covid-19 precautions. Division staff have collaborated with the divion of labor to meet the continuing education and career needs of the st. Vincent nurses. Staff have consulted to provide assistance with resume updates and creation. Staff have assisted and acted as consultants with respect to tip and pointers for job searches. The 16th annual clinical nursing conference was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic and is again scheduled for may 6, 2022. Region & online programs: the division offered 8 face to face programs, 370 participants, 10 webinars with a total of 450 participants, and 21 on-line courses with a total of 208 participants. Due to covid restriction the pivot made to online and virtual ce offerings in 2020 continued and expanded. The division's staff gaining increased facility and expertise in conducting and managing online and virtual learning including conducting surveys and evaluation of programs. In the 2020-2021 cycle, the mna launched a follow-up webinar related to covid "thru the eyes of the caregiver and racism and social justice "examining the impact of racism & social injustice in nursing practice and healthcare". Both programs received positive reviews. The webinar on racism in healthcare has been transitioned to an enduring ce on the virtual platform. The constraints of covid have offered up opportunities to do things differently. We have learned from our members that while they value in person offerings the virtual offering increased access to more programs for many. Department staff: joe-ann fergus rn, phd assumed the role of interim director in may 2021 and currently serves as director division of membership. Mary sue howlett has been leading the division in the shifting of what were to be face to face programs to enduring, online offerings. Carol mallia and charlene verga continue to share their expertise and skills in a variety of clinical practice areas including peer as”

“The mna congresses and committees of the divisions of nursing are as follows; congress on nursing practice, congress on health and safety, center for ethics and human rights, education committee, board policy committee, awards committee, safe patient handling, workplace violence and convention committees. These committees actively pursued their goals with considerable accomplishments throughout the year. (see individual reports) -the convention committee has resumed work and worked tirelessly to plan and hold this year's convention while staying mindful of covid constraints. On hold since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. -transitions for new graduate nurses: transitions programs for new grads were cancelled in the 2020-2021 cycle. The division has however continued to serve as a resource and advocate for new grads and students in transition. -career services has responded to multiple requests throughout the year. Requests in order of priority were assisting st. Vincent nurses with resume writing and job searched; assisting nurses returning to practice; refresher courses; selection of a nursing program; assistance with resume development and career options; degree options; nursing scholarships and loan forgiveness. Members of the department of nursing extend their appreciation to all the volunteers of the mna structural units and members who have provided vision, knowledge and expertise to projects and programs developed for the mass. Nurse association and the nursing community. The department looks forward to interacting with and assisting the membership during this next year. The congress on nursing practice: staffed by mary crotty, and peg tayler the congress is chaired by linda barton rn. The members had been meeting monthly at mna. The meetings have now transitioned to zoom. Highlights include: the congress on nursing practice has published a white paper addressing problem of closures of maternity services and resulting gaps in care particularly affecting minority populations. "massachusetts: maternal services are central to racial and social justice"-- https://www.massnurses.org/files/file/maternal%20services%20white%20pape r.pdf the maternity paper has been well received by supporters in the ma legislature concerned with the need to ensure essential services be maintained. The congress has also been working on a similar paper addressing the severe gaps in mental health resources, with broad ramifications including increased suicide, drug abuse, violence including workplace violence and assaults, and boarding of children and adults in emergence rooms for weeks. Goals for 2021-2022 assess clinical practice & educational and mental health support needs for frontline nurses who continue to experience challenges related to covid-19. Center for ethics and human rights members lola roland, ellen farley mna staff sarah moroney, consultant accomplishments 2020 2021 participated in mna's webinar on racism offer ethical perspective for framing the discussion collaborated with the bod's subcommittee and the diversity committee in the creation of the organization's statement on anti-racism. Discussed case studies re: ethics at meetings. Reviewed and discussed pertinent literature on the evolving health care system and its' ethical implications. Reviewed the mna ce offerings and identified what provisions in the code of ethics for nurses related to each specific ce offering. Provided the mna continuing education staff with copies of the ana code of ethics for nurses, highlighting the specific provisions in the code for nurses related to its specific offering to be included in the ce offering packet. Continued to work on the best way to conduct a survey of the schools of nursing in massachusetts to determine the type and quantity of ethics in their nursing curriculum. Continued to work on a review of mna policies as stated in the mna policy manual. Conducted a review of all the mna position statements. Continued to monitor the searc”

“Division of health & safety: o instrumental in securing ppe that was distributed to members during the pandemic o february 2021 a covid-19 fact sheet was created and distributed for members o maintained up to date covid-19 information on the mna website and promoted self-help and support resources for members throughout the pandemic o provided expertise and guidance to the various unions regarding, "covid-19 & vaccine hesitancy" o published a white paper in, antimicrobial resistance & infection control, generated from the 7/15/2020 covid-19 conference titled, "through the eyes through the front line, an international perspective" o our "code gray" policy and plan for hospitals to customize preventing workplace violence continues to be requested and distributed to both member and non-member facilities o developed informational booklet for healthcare worker resiliency during the pandemic o the workplace violence survey conducted by the workplace violence and prevention task force through the division of health & safety in collaboration with the department of membership continues to be utilized and serves as a source of data o developed and distributed a "workplace bullying survey" on survey monkey for labor associate directors to utilize with their bargaining units o submitted a research proposal to the university of massachusetts boston's institutional review board that was approved in march 2021 to study, "examining occupational safety & health administration (osha) recordkeeping data to determine trends in worker injuries & illnesses related to covid-19", which will utilize various hospitals osha logs to collect necessary data o developed a pocket guide educational material called: "workplace stress & trauma response information" o education on "the prevention of violence", presented for both members, hospitals, and other unions o participated quarterly on the governor's task force executive order 511 o participated as a contributor with a national advisory board for sharps injuries and published, "moving the sharps safety in healthcare agenda forward in the united states: 2020 consensus statement and call to action" o member of the dph state occupational health advisory board o member of the center for the promotion of health in the new england workplace (cph-new) external advisory board o participated as a board member of the massachusetts association of chemically injured o member of the state of massachusetts safe patient handling stake holders group o included in the immunization coalition in massachusetts o the congress on health & safety determined to take a hiatus during the pandemic and will reconvene in november 2021 to establish plans and goals for 2022 o participated as a consultant/member to the massachusetts teachers association (mta) safety committee o participated and contributed to the coalition to safely reopen schools meetings o transitioned educational programs, historically offered in-person, to virtual technology utilizing both zoom and jotform platforms providing greater access to the various programs statewide o attended a virtual niosh grant writing workshop february 18 & 19 2021 o supported the workplace violence and prevention and the safe patient handling and mobility task forces workplace violence and prevention task force the workplace violence and prevention task force continued to meet every other month in the past year. Updated "actions you should take if assaulted at work" for online access and distribution to members created and launched a workplace violence reporting form online collecting data to identify and analyze trends which can lead to safer practice recommendations a significant increase in assaults and severity has been noted the past year as a result of the impact covid-19 made for patients and staff involved with initiating legal actions across the commonwealth with various district attorney offices the task force assisted members who were assaulted by providing support and assis”

“Consultation: the division of health & safety is called upon daily by individual mna members and non-members, mna labor representatives and other mna affiliates, seeking advice and direction in relation to environmental concerns and/or working conditions. The consultation role for health & safety issues is a formal process in the division of health & safety. The division serves as the primary resource assisting members with work-related issues and concerns, skillfully guiding members through the event process and providing post-event follow-up. The health & safety division works with bargaining unit members to integrate a systems approach in identifying and preventing factors associated with workplace violence and various types of work-related issues such as air quality, infectious diseases and other conditions hazardous found at the workplace. The division of health & safety is frequently sought out to consult and collaborate with multiple professional organizations in the united states on a variety of topics. To include: healthwatch usa, new york state nurses association (nysna), pennsylvania association of staff nurses and allied professionals (pasnap), united nurses and allied health professionals (unap), rhode island state nurses association (risna) and northeast nurses association (nena). The division represents the massachusetts nurses association and membership by attending various professional organizations, educational activities, public health forums and meetings throughout the year. Many of these meetings are held monthly or quarterly. Some of the organizations and groups that health & safety attend are: the massachusetts occupational health nurses association (as board of directors members), the new england college of occupational and environmental medicine (participating in planning of an annual conference), masscosh, the massachusetts asthma coalition, mdph occupational health surveillance program (advisory board member), the university of massachusetts - lowell center's external advisory committee and serving as a member of a national needle stick advisory committee. Health & safety is active in the state's safe patient handling stake holders group who directs the activities of the state ergonomic task force. We have been invited to be members of the governor's task force on worker safety in the public sector overseen by the department of public health. The division of health & safety wrote and submitted three letters of support in 2020 for the following groups we work and/or participate with: occupational health surveillance program - massachusetts department of public health center for work, health, and well-being harvard t.h. Chan school of public health center for the promotion of health in the new england workplace university of massachusetts - lowell department staff: we would like to acknowledge the contributions and (are) indebted to all of the nursing staff who represent mna on various committees outside the organization. Sue clish works to support health & safety in all of our endeavors.”

“Report of division of labor action beth israel and independents staff director dana simon associate directors james grogan, grace himatay, deb rigiero labor assistants sharon decosta, dolores neves tufts medical center our members settled a new contract after only nine sessions at tufts with some extraordinary achievements. The achievement stands as proof that "when we fight, we win!" the legacy of the 2017 nurses strike has brought a different relationship from management. The new post-strike-victory relationship also bore fruit in joint planning during the pandemic which communication and respect for nurses' opinions, doubtlessly saved countless lives. Beth israel lahey health system as we enter the third year post the mega merger creating the beth israel lahey health system, we see the system's profits growing. We are not seeing the system keeping its commitments to the commonwealth to use their new ability to leverage higher rates and cost savings through to be reinvested in the betterment of care. There is neither evidence visible to us of their fulfillment of promises to fund public health in working class and gateway communities, in improvements in the delivery of care and certainly not in improvements in hospital staffing. They have provided, for example, no palpable help to the financially desperate 2nd tier bi-lahey affiliate, lawrence general hospital. Moreover, we have not seen evidence that the attorney general's office has been supervising the new system's fulfillment of these promises. Bi-plymouth: at the conclusion of a year-long contract campaign, in september, our members ratified a new contract bringing 8% increases over three years, and significant improvements in staffing including the addition of charge nurses without assignment, resource nurses and locked in the staffing grids, making them enforceable. There was great community support for our cause. Northeast health corporation: this subsidiary corporation of the larger bi lahey health system is made up of beverly hospital, addition gilbert hospital and the lahey outpatient center in danvers (a surgery center). By far the lowest paid hospitals in a roughly 25-mile radius they also have arguably the worst recruitment and retention problems of the hospitals in northeastern mass. We have begun negotiations for a new contract which will take effect on april 1, 2022 and are benefitting from great community support. Key goals include beating back management's demand to continue a contractual exemption from the state's mot law and to improve economic conditions sufficiently to recruit and retain. A special note of appreciation is due to the highly committed and effective north shore central labor council. We launched the contract campaign in june of 2021 with a very successful picket for management to do their job. Anna jaques hospital: our members settled a new contract in 2021 with 4.5% (with an added 3% at top step); increases to various differentials, increase in the extra shift incentive bonus and a clinical resource rn for night shifts. Boston medflight (independent) in the summer of 2021 we began bargaining a new contract to take effect october 2022. Our paramedic and rn members at medflight have continued to be appreciated by our members and the medical staffs of all hospitals in our region. Lawrence general hospital (independent) we are currently in bargaining. Lgh reports the single greatest financial losses of any massachusetts hospital. We and the community and the hospital must convince the governor and the legislature to create a structural fix to fund this hospital, which performs such vital work in one of the poorest working-class cities of the state. We cannot allow it to fall victim to the "invisible hand of the market," which always seems to become visible when the hospital in question serves low-income communities of color. Steward staff director dana simon associate directors ann marie ryan, matthew roth labor assistant dolores neves the n”

“Mass general brigham (formally partners) staff director roland goff, rudy renaud for cooley dickinson hospital associate directors aaron cerny, andrea fox, eamon hogan, shelley reever, ron patenaude for cooley dickinson hospital labor assistant cindy messia, dayana ocasio north shore medical center (salem hospital) reached an agreement in early 2021 that included an initial 6.5% wage increase as well as addition 1% wage increases over the next year of the contract extension. All other bargaining units in the system brigham & women's, faulkner, nantucket, dana farber cancer institute, cooley dickinson hospital, and vna of cooley dickinson have entered or will be entering negotiations for new agreements between september and december. Public sector unit 7/cha staff director roland goff associate directors andrea fox, marc carbonneau, susannah hegarty, james grogan labor assistant rosie mahoney, sharon decosta unit 7 after approximately six (6) months of negotiations, unit 7 reached a tentative agreement for a three-year contract that will run through december 31, 2023. The tentative agreement ratification vote count with be held on september 23, 2021. Cambridge health alliance (cha) the cambridge alliance (cha) three bargaining units cambridge hospital, everett hospital and the somerville campus - reached and ratified a new three-year contract after over two (2) years of negotiations. Cape cod healthcare staff director roland goff associate directors john gordon labor assistant dayana ocasio the two (2) cape cod vna bargaining units have almost completed a merger into one bargaining unit with one contract and recognizing seniority credit from each formerly separate unit through "dovetailing" of seniority based on date of hire with the respective vna. The two bargaining units voted to approve the dovetail agreement and ratified a new contract. Cape cod and falmouth hospital bargaining units have each negotiated a new four-year contract. Umass staff director ole kushner hermanson associate directors tony antonelli, gabriel mireles labor assistants sharon decosta 2021 has been grinding for nurses in the umass system. Census is higher than ever. Management continues to violate our agreement and short staff floors or give assignment to charge when they shouldn't. This has resulted in 30 grievances filed to expedited arbitration so many that the process became overwhelmed and hardly expedited. Patients are being placed in hallways and boarding in emergency departments for days. Keeping up with the violations is a full-time job for bargaining unit leaders and staff! While top members of administration continue to profess their support and talk about efforts to make improvements members are not seeing the talk translate into safer conditions for patients or nurses. Something must be done to alleviate some of this pressure. Southcoast staff director ole kushner hermanson associate directors wendy mcgill labor assistants cindy messia st. Luke's hospital: at the close of 2020 the st luke's nurses once again voted union yes! Despite the lies and divisiveness of the anti-union committee fueled and funded by union busters, the st luke's nurses reached out for one-on-one conversations with every voter they could get a hold of to talk about the improvements they had been struggling to achieve for over a year. They communicated managements outrageous intractable positions and all they had been doing to move administration to an acceptable contract. Nurses who were feeling hopeless at the end of the worst year they could imagine held firm and marked the yes! Box to keep their union in a mail-in ballot. It was a narrow win for the nurses, but they have pushed on. Going back to the table the first order of business was securing an immediate raise for nurses to try to stem the flow of rns out the door. Through the spring and summer they have slogged on pushing management at every session and demonstrating in the community every week. The nurses held”

“Baystate noble hospital and baystate health at home both of these contracts have been settled and ratified this year. Summaries of the agreements are below: noble tentative agreement on march 3, the mna bargaining committee reached a tentative agreement with baystate management for a new contract. The agreement is subject to a vote of the membership. Highlights of the new contract changes include: -night shift differential: from $4.75 to $5.50; -charge pay: from $1.50 to $1.75 and on 3/31/23, increase to $2.00; -preceptor pay: from $1.25 to $1.75; -bsn differential: from $1.00 to $1.25; -certification differential: from 30-cents to 50-cents; -weekend differential: on 3/31/23, increase from $2.00 to $2.25 -new float pool to supplement unit staffing needs and minimize floating of unit nurses, with a $3 differential; -guarantee of 2 hours of pay if an extra shift is cancelled with less than one hour's notice; -nurses who were on silver health insurance plan in january of 2021 can continue to elect silver plan; -ratification bonus: the ratification bonus for each nurse will be calculated as follows: [hours worked between 4/1/2020 and 3/31/2021, capped at 2080 hours] x [base hourly rate] x [1.75%]; -no takeaways; -wage increases: steps 1-15 effective 1st pay period after 4/1/21 - across the board increase ("atb") 1.5% effective 1st full pay period after 4/1/22 - across the board increase ("atb") 1.5% effective 1stfull pay period after 4/1/23 - across the board increase ("atb") 1.75% steps 16-18 effective 1st pay period after 4/1/21 - bonus 1.5% effective 1st full pay period after 4/1/22 - across the board increase ("atb") 1.5% effective 1stfull pay period after 4/1/23 - across the board increase ("atb") 1.75% baystate health at home tentative agreement ratification bonus: a bonus will be paid on the first pay period following ratification that is equal to 3% of all scheduled hours for the preceding year. Effective first full pay period after ratification nurses shall receive a 3% wage increase. Effective first full pay period after april 1, 2022 nurses shall receive a 2% wage increase. Effective first full pay period after april 1, 2023 nurses shall receive a 2% wage increase. Increase bsn differential to $1.25 increase preceptor differential to $2 and add language that states, "a nurse may request to not be a preceptor, and such request shall not be unreasonably denied by the agency." increase on call to $3 increase evening differential to $1 weekend differential is 50% for everyone increase certification bonus to $750 the regular work week will change from 37.5 hours to 40 hours per week and 7.5 hours to 8 hours per day. Nurses will cover for evening nurse's vacation as well as emergency. A nurse will not be involuntarily assigned to the evening shift more than three (3) times per calendar year a day nurse will not be called in to work the evening shift on their day off. The silver and gold insurance plans will no longer be an option but anyone currently on the silver plan will be grandfathered in. Advantage plus will continue to be offered. School nurses team staff director rudy renaud, roland goff associate director ted burke, marc carbonneau, aaron cerny labor assistant rosie mahoney, cindy messia this past year has continued to be challenging for our school nurses. Many have had to do contact tracing for their schools and towns, as well as their own jobs. School districts have also not put the time and care into refiguring the changes that they needed to make to keep everyone in the school system safe. During all this, everyone has been working hard to get contracts renegotiated. Recent settlements include bedford, gloucester, grafton, methuen, worcester, taunton and leicester. We also started having statewide school nurse meetings over zoom. This has given school nurses a much-needed opportunity to meet and support each other from many miles away.”

“The 990 is prepared on the same basis as the financial statements which are prepared on the modified cash basis of accounting. The consolidated financial statements of the association are presented on a modified cash basis, whereby the association's dues income is recognized when received rather than when earned. All other income is recorded when earned and expenses are recorded as incurred.”

“There was no change in the oversight process or selection process during the tax year.”