THE USE OF MANDATORY OVERTIME IN THE

WHEREAS, hospitals and other health care facilities frequently eliminate permanent staff positions as their first response to financial pressure; and

WHEREAS, that choice means that many health care facilities are chronically understaffed, leading to extremely stressful working conditions; and

WHEREAS, common practice in the health care industry is to require nurses and other staff, who have already worked a full shift, to remain on the job, often for as much as another full shift, in order to cope with the shortage of staff; and

WHEREAS, this practice not only threatens the health and well-being of staff, but seriously - sometimes dangerously - undermines the quality of care being delivered to patients:

RESOLVED, that the AFT/FNHP call on state and federal departments of health or other appropriate regulatory bodies, to establish guidelines which prohibit the use of mandatory overtime, as a means of coping with staff shortages in health care facilities; and

RESOLVED, that the FNHP will mount a national campaign to outlaw the use of mandatory overtime in health care facilities.