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– Although we have not done anything wrong, it is a stressful moment that characterizes us. I myself have had stress reactions like headaches and tinnitus. You get physically ill from stress, says Ann Christin Skrøder.
For 20 years she has worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit for the youngest children at Østfold Hospital. She has an 80 percent position, but like several of her colleagues, she wants to work full time in her own department.
She thought this could be resolved when a new nurse position was announced in the ward in the spring of 2019. She was one of four who asked to have her position expanded rather than hiring a new person.
The answer was no. Thus began a dispute that culminates when employees meet with the employer in court on Tuesday.
– No one would ask the same of a doctor
Østfold Hospital believes that it will be impossible to cover all weekend shifts if the nurses work full time. They just need a lot of bosses in part-time positions.
So instead of nurses getting a full-time position in their own department, they are offered the last 20-25 percent in the so-called personnel department. In practice, this means that they have to work one day a week in another ward of the hospital.
The four now going to court don’t want that.
Because while they generally work with premature and sick newborns, they think it’s a very big transition to go with older patients with completely different ailments. In addition, they have specialized training and experience that they consider a shame that they are not being used to the full.
– The hospital has become more and more specialized. No one would ask a doctor who specializes in orthopedics to work 25 percent of the time in a completely different field, Skrøder says.
The hospital: – A beginning
The nurses took the case to the Dispute Resolution Board when they were not allowed to expand their positions in the neonatal intensive care unit. There they prevailed.
But the hospital did not accept defeat and sued the nurses.
– It feels terribly unfair and it has been stressful being in this. This is basically a political issue for the employer, says Skrøder.
The hospital’s director, Hege Gjessing, says she understands that the nurses experience the case as a great burden. She still believes that it was necessary to go to court as the decision of the Dispute Resolution Board cannot be appealed.
The hospital director, Hege Gjessing, says he did not want a trial, but did not see any other way out.
Photo: Sebastian Nordli / NRK
– This is a principle that will apply to all departments in all hospitals in Norway, says Gjessing.
Gjessing believes that in the final analysis it will cost the hospital “many hundreds of millions” if they lose and this case sets a precedent.
Kampsak
There is a long tradition of part-time positions among nurses. The Norwegian Nurses Association’s own figures show that only 40 percent of those who work shifts at Østfold Hospital work full time.
Although there are an increasing number of full-time positions nationwide, union steward Anita T. Granli at Østfold Hospital believes that the large proportion of part-time work is largely due to a lack of will and creativity on the part of the hospital address.
– A restructuring is very necessary. So both parties must be solution-oriented. It’s been 20 years since someone got a 100 percent position in the neonatal intensive care unit. I do not entirely believe that it is not possible, he says.
The hospital director, on the other hand, points out that the hospital must be staffed 24 hours a day without the nurses having to work too many weekends.
– We constantly come across work schedule arrangements that have been negotiated. Each nurse can work a maximum of every third weekend. So there are limits to how creative we can be, says Gjessing.
