Letters to the editor July 18

Fair treatment policy

Did you ever in your youth experience an unfairness such as someone cutting into a line ahead of you or even you being short changed only to have an adult intervene in your behalf?

How about those hidden fees that pop up when you purchase a ticket or buy something on line and the satisfying feeling of justice when some agency gets you a refund or enforces rules of prior disclosure?

I encourage the ImagineIf Libraries board of trustees to take Valeri McGarvey’s suggestion to revise, clarify and strengthen the library’s fair treatment policy. Be that adult institution that contributes fairness to our collective civility.

— Max Maxwell, Kalispell

Sales tax pitch

Each time a sales tax has been proposed in Montana, it was proposed as an additional tax, although the taxpayers were assured that either property taxes and/or income taxes would be reduced. Promises, promises.

A sales tax replacing either income tax or property tax is fair and equitable. It works in the states of Washington Texas, Wyoming, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Alaska.

— Elsa Putzier, Bigfork

Labor negotiations

The nurses at Logan Health, of which I am one who volunteer their time, have been back at the bargaining table with management. One item on the table is access to meeting rooms in the hospital with sufficient advance request, as any other entity would be required.

Management has stated that they are not agreeable to this. They trust us every day to take care of critically ill patients, make split-second, life-saving decisions, and work side-by-side with doctors and other clinicians to coordinate care. Yet, we are not allowed to come together in a meeting space to discuss anything union related.

We, the nurses, are the union. We are looking to improve our relationship with management, however, this continues to show us that management is not. They state it is too early in the relationship to be able to agree to this. We are years into this relationship.

Furthermore, this is not an outlandish request. Firefighters, police and nurses throughout the country, meet at their place of employment to discuss/disseminate union related information. We, as nurses, can collaborate together on campus in a professional manner to realize improvements and advances for working conditions and care of our patients. We do this every day in hospital committees.

We ask management to show us they are committed to improving our relationship, as well as being committed to improving care at Logan Health, by agreeing to allow nurses to request a meeting room to communicate with each other regarding union information.

— Cindy Hinzman, Kalispell