9,000 University of California Nurses to Strike July 21

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 11 Jul 2005 - 13:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions

In what is believed to be the largest single strike by registered nurses ever in the United States, some 9,000 University of California RNs have called a one day strike Thursday, July 21 at several of the state's best known medical institutions, the California Nurses Association announced today.

In a series of large membership meetings held over the past two weeks, UC RNs, Nurse Practitioners, and Nurse Anesthetists voted by an overwhelming 95% to reject a contract proposal by University administrators and authorize the walkout.

The strike will affect large UC medical centers in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Diego, San Francisco, Davis, and Irvine, and student health centers in Riverside, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Berkeley. CNA said that the University has refused to bargain in good faith provoking the walkout.

At the center of the dispute, said CNA, is the University's hard line stance on two issues linked to the high profile attack by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on nurses in recent months -- retirement security and safe staffing.

UC plans major cuts in nurses' retirement plan matching Schwarzenegger's goals

Following the governor's program which attacks those who perform public service, especially nurses, teachers and firefighters in favor of corporate privatization, the UC is attempting to undermine retirement security of its registered nurses. Not only is Schwarzenegger a Regent of the University, but a UC vice president is also a member of the commission that works with the governor's staff on his pension plans.

UC officials have informed CNA that they intend to make substantial changes in the system's pension program. In a presentation to top UC managers at a UC Leadership Institute in May, the system's top pension and benefit policy director repeatedly cited the governor's plan to privatize public employee pensions, and noted that "pension reform is still on the move."

In that presentation, UC outlined plans to mandate employees divert 8% of their pay into the pension system. The UC has failed to make any contributions to the retirement program since 1990, which, says CNA, is the reason UC is looking for excuses to penalize employees now.

Nurses note that the University has long cited its retirement program as an excuse for offering substandard compensation, and warn that the sharp cuts envisioned by the UC could drive RNs to other hospitals depriving UC patients of many of its most experienced RNs.

"Historically, UCLA has justified their lack of pay competitiveness [as a trade-off for the UC pension plan]," says Michael Kenny, an RN at the UCLA Medical Center's Neuropsychiatric Institute. "UCLA is no longer an employer of choice for Los Angeles nurses. Nurses are 'voting' with their feet by leaving. Other hospitals in the area now offer retirement plans that allow the nurse to retire with dignity."

CNA is proposing language to guarantee there will be no changes in the nurses' pension, retiree health, or other benefits for the life of the contract, as all other large health systems have done in contracts with CNA.

UC officials want to continue to be able to make cuts in retirement and benefits any time, and in addition to its pension changes has also indicated plans to reduce retiree health benefits and make employees pay far more for health benefits.

"Throughout bargaining and inside the UC hospitals and clinics, nurses are feeling unheard," said UCSF nurse negotiator Maureen Dugan, RN. "Failure to listen to what nurses need to care for their patients and families will lead to a revolving door of inadequate care at world famous UC medical centers."

"Experienced nurses will leave the UC system if they cannot trust UC to provide working conditions, pensions, healthcare, and safe staffing for patients," said UC Davis RN Suzanne DePalma. "Leaving inexperienced nurses and doctors in UC hospitals without the needed support of expert RNs, would be unsafe for the patients who are desperately ill, vulnerable, and trusting nurses and doctors to take good care of them."

Schwarzenegger re-files attack on RN ratios as UC refuses to bargain

Safe staffing is another key flashpoint. At the request of the California Hospital Association, the lobbying arm of the hospital industry of which the UC administration is a major part, Schwarzenegger issued an emergency order last year to roll back key portions of the safe RN-to-patient staffing ratio law.

While a Sacramento Superior Court overturned the emergency order last month, the Schwarzenegger administration filed an identical emergency order last week as part of its plan to appeal the court decision.

CNA has introduced a comprehensive UC staffing proposal, emulating the specific minimum ratios required by the law, which would be enforced through the contract. UC management has refused to bargain on the issue.

UC facilities frequently fail to meet the staffing needed to handle the especially ill patients commonly found in UC hospitals, and the UC administration has conceded that its acuity systems, used for improving staffing beyond the ratios for the sickest patients, are in many areas based on budget priorities rather than patient need.

"Nurses are sending a strong message that UC should address the nursing shortage by including in the CNA contract nurse-to-patient safe staffing ratios, competitive wages, health insurance and pension protections because in health or sickness, patients deserve the best qualified experienced RNs around," said UC Irvine RN Tam Nguyen, one of four UCI RN leaders who was suspended by the University in retaliation after the strike vote was announced, an illegal act, says CNA, that further inflamed tensions between the University and the nurses.

The nurses and UC administration also remain divided on wages because UC compensation is far below salaries at other hospitals, on a CNA proposal to safeguard patients and RN practice when new technologies are introduced, and on a UC demand that would force nurses to work when sick, endangering patients, or lose vacation time.

"UCSD is a hospital which provides care to a large community which extends far beyond San Diego. They provide many treatments that cannot be found elsewhere. This requires very experienced RN staff. In order to retain experienced staff, UCSD needs to provide competitive wages," said Janice Webb, a UC San Diego RN.

California Nurses Association
http://www.calnurses.org