Nurses who took part in a rally for patient rights have been suspended.

Nurses who took part in a rally for patient rights have been suspended.: "Nurses who took part in a rally for patient rights have been suspended.
Posted 5/2/2005 02:44 PM

A group of nine nurses from BAR-H in Beckley took part in what they said was an educational rally last Wednesday.

Story by Liz Kravitz Email | Bio

Last week nurses were standing on the side of the road in Beckley letting people know about their concerns.

59 News spoke with Bill Riggs from the Kentucky Nurses association, the group that organized the event.

He says the nurses were educating the community about nurses concerns that adequate staffing and safe patient care was not being responded to by Beckley A-R-H management.

Now Riggs is filing charges with the National Labor Board.

He says the nurses are being punished for standing up for their patients.

And, he claims the suspension is illegal.

'The contract says that the employer may take disciplinary measures against anyone for a just cause. Certainly there was no just cause here because there was no violation of the agreement there was no violation of our contract in any way. In fact the violation occur when the nurses are not put in a safe patient care environment and we have filed grievances over that issue.' says Bill Riggs.

Riggs says after months of meetings and communication with A-R-H about the problem, inadequate staffing still exists.

He says they will continue to advocate for patient care.

In a statement from ARH, CEO Rocco Massey says, 'Its ARH's standard to remain within its collective bargaining agreements and personnel policies. In order to protect the integrity of the unions, the employees involved and ARH, it is our policy not to discuss these issues publicly. Ongoing dialogue between ARH and the Kentucky and West Virginia Nurses associations continues.'"