PROVIDENCE (ASRN.ORG) - Rhode Island's Governor Carcieri angered and frustrated Rhode Island's 10,000 registered nurses when he vetoed a bill that would prevent hospitals from forcing nurses to work overtime.

House Representative Raymond E. Gallison Jr., D-Bristol and Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield sponsored the Bill.

Gallison said, after learning of the veto, "We do have a severe nursing shortage, and this is one of the reasons.”

Governor Carcieri wrote in his veto message, "that forced overtime is something that should be negotiated through the collective-bargaining process.”

Carcieri also claimed the bill would worsen the shortage of nurses in Rhode Island because hospitals would need to hire people to fill shifts they could previously have filled through overtime.

Gallison said that argument, too, was misguided. He said nurses finishing their training and looking for jobs would be drawn to Rhode Island if they knew they couldn’t be forced to work back-to-back shifts on a regular basis.

At least 11 states, including California, Connecticut, Texas and Maryland, have prohibited mandatory overtime and a dozen others are considering the idea. Many of those states have a greater nursing shortage than Rhode Island.

© ASRN.ORG 2007. All rights reserved.