The Purpose -START HERE

I've been talking with different members of the laboratory about the poorly managed nature of our workplace and the unethical practices of our employer. Three things are clear to me: 1) we are angry, and 2)  we need to speak up about these things , and 3) each of us has a different perspective on what the problems are and what should be done about them . After discussing with a few people, we all seemed in agreement that writing letters to HR would be a good first step.

Some of you know that I wrote a formal complaint to HR a few months ago about the severe low staffing and how badly it was hampering our ability to train new employees. This got me a meeting with the hospital chief operations officer in which he reassured me that the hospital was taking all appropriate steps to fix our staffing issues, which obviously turned out to be insufficient.

Several of us agreed today that if many of us wrote letters, this would be a much more effective and powerful tool for getting attention to our problems than a single letter from a single person. We could either combine the best parts of all of the letters into one and have everyone who feels inclined sign it, or just submit a packet of individual letters all together as a group formal complaint.

I created this forum as a tool for us to share our thoughts with one another and to help and critique one another in our shared letter writing and any other steps we decide we want to pursue in the future.

Any member of the laboratory (including clinical lab, micro, outpatient, Cancer Center, etc.) other than management who wishes to participate is welcome. I think we will get better results the more people participate. Of course, some people might rather not be involved, and that's fine too.

Now that I've clarified what this forum is for, let's clarify what it is NOT for:

1. It is NOT for ad hominem attacks on any person, whether or not that person is a part of the forum. Unprofessional and abusive speech is not okay, no matter if you think it's deserved.
2. I created this forum as a somewhat private, separate space for us to talk freely to each other, but that said, I think it best that we assume any part of it could be found and viewed by the administration. Do not post anything that you feel might get you or anyone else it trouble if it was found and repeated. Be professional.
3. We have been treated unethically by our employer. We have the high ground right now. Let's not lose that high ground with squabbling.

I would prefer if people use some variation on their actual first names as their usernames, so we all know who we're talking to. That said, if someone wishes to join in a more anonymous way because that's how they feel comfortable, that is okay too.

I'm the admin of this forum because I made it, but I do not see myself as in charge of this letter writing project. If we feel we need a leader, maybe we can have a vote. Or it can just be collaborative.

I welcome any feedback on the project and the forum itself.

I've written up a rough draft letter and will post it up in the letter archive later this afternoon.
Time to move forward!