Nurses receive promised pay raises and excess leave payments

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Nurses’ salary adjustments were reflected in their paychecks this past week and their excess leave has been paid out by the hospital, all to the tune of close to half-a-million-dollars.

This amounted to over $425,000, confirmed by the Chief Executive Officer of the LBJ hospital, Moefaauo Bill Emmsley in an interview with Samoa News.

He said close to half a million has been budgeted for the nurses pay adjustments and to pay for their excess leave.

“Yes every nurse [received their salary adjustments], we also paid out their excess leave. A total of $50,000 was paid out for all their excess leave and their salary adjustments amounted to $375,000,” said Moefaauo.

“The nurses deserve the salary adjustment — but they were not patient — because it was all part of the plan. But what they did was uncalled for; I mean it’s their right, but they should have been patient.

It’s not like we woke up last night and decided to give them a raise, no this was all part of our plan,” said the LBJ CEO.

The CEO was referring to when the nurses walked out from hospital some two weeks ago and instigated a strike to grab the attention of the hospital management and board on their demands to better their working conditions.

As reported earlier, the nurses submitted a grievance letter to Moefaauo, which included several recommendations including adjustment to the salaries for the Nursing Manager, at entry level for the Registered Nurses; Licensed Practical Nurses; Certified Nurses Assistants and Orderly Clerk.

“If staff receives the … pay scale, we will no longer ask for time and a half for overtime, but the regular rate only,” the letter stated.

Furthermore the nurses said they should also receive an annual increment of 1 percent; and a $500 Christmas bonus or base bonus on hours worked for the year.

Also they asked for the option to receive excess leave by the first pay-period in December or at least pay out half the amount of excess leave and let the other half roll over until March of the following year.

Regarding staffing, the nurses pointed out that the level of staffing is critically unsafe, and outlined the recommended nurse patient ratios in accordance with the National Nurses United, the largest Union and professional association of registered nurses in U.S history.

The nurses indicated they were advocating for safer ratios.

According to the CEO, “No one called the office and informed me about their concerns, nothing.”

He said the nurses walking out and striking was a “wakeup call for the hospital management and the board.

“By all means — as indicated in my press release — it is their freedom of speech and their right but please be patient; however if you are out of patience follow the proper protocols and procedure. I would have given them my whole afternoon if they knocked on my door, that’s all they had to do.

“And it’s a two-way-street. Now I am going to demand more from them in terms of performances,” he said.