Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 26, 1994 TAG: 9409260027
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Now, medical center management and the government employees' union whose accusations were the focus of the controversy are poised to sign a "partnership agreement" that its authors hope will prevent that kind of breakdown from happening again.
"This new agreement is totally different from what we've had," said Alma Lee, president of the American Federation of Government Employees local at the VA in Salem. "I think it will help us avoid what happened in the past."
The agreement stems from President Clinton's plan to reform government; specifically, an executive order he signed that establishes guidelines for implementing labor-management partnerships. The order was intended to stop adversarial relationships between unions and management in federal agencies.
A national VA Partnership Agreement was signed by U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown, the national AFGE and four other unions earlier this year. Since then, about nine VA facilities have signed similar agreements.
The Salem agreement will be signed at a ceremony Tuesday.
It establishes a partnership council of eight employees - four management and four union - who will work to ensure an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust.
The agreement also allows union involvement on key medical center committees that historically had been restricted to management, Lee said.
"I can remember the time when we either had to fight to get on a committee or fight to even question a committee," she said. "Management would do something and we'd grieve it. Now we'll find out ahead of time, and eliminate some of the things that happened before."
For the Salem medical center, the agreement is a kind of "peace accord," one union member said.
Union officials' public airing of strife between the union and management turned a spotlight on the medical center's sprawling Salem complex two years ago. The union charged that mismanagement, low employee morale and stressful working conditions were affecting patient care.
The discovery of the bodies of three patients on the grounds - one who had been missing 15 years - only fueled the union's charges.
When the dust settled, the medical center's three top executives, including the director, were fired or reassigned. A new director with a reputation for quelling fires at VA facilities was brought in to trouble-shoot.
"Alma Lee and I have tried to work in the spirit of the partnership [agreement] ever since I've been here," said John Presley, who was appointed medical center director in 1992. "It formalizes what both of our philosophies are. It's why this hospital has made the progress it has."
Lee - who is also president of the National Veterans Affairs Council, representing 125,000 VA employees nationwide - agrees that the Salem medical center has progressed. But "we still have our problems," she said.
"I'm not saying everything is OK. You still have some of the same management people who were here during the storm. And old ideas don't change easily.
"It'll take years to resolve some of our problems. No way can you keep this many people working together and not have problems.
"But at least we can talk about it now."
The medical center employs about 1,600 people. An estimated 600 are AFGE members.
by CNB