Community needs to support BGH nurses

The nurses at Bonner General Hospital are trying to get the hospital management to finish negotiating a union contract that has been dragging on for 18 months. A number of nurses that I've contacted have expressed their frustration in what appears to be foot-dragging by BGH management.

I have also been informed that management has hired an extremely expensive senior consultant who comes from Management Performance International, Inc., a Cincinnati, Ohio, corporation, that boasts on its Web site, that it has a success rate of more than 95 percent in keeping their work environment union free. This high-paid consultant also boasts that he specializes in union free labor-relation programs.

These programs are just outright union-busting tactics used to prevent our nurses from having a fair, more democratic and professional work place.

The management claims they have bargained in good faith. However, hiring a management consultant from this union-free corporation could hardly be compatible with the notion of good faith.

If you wish to support our nurses at Bonner General, write a short note saying so, sign it with your address and mail it to: Support BGH Nurses, 206 N. Fourth Ave., Sandpoint, ID, 83864. The nurses hope to facilitate the negotiations with support from our community and your response could be invaluable.

PHILIP A. DEUTCHMAN

Sandpoint