Monday, June 3, 1996
Med Center, accused of unionization retaliation, to present
witnesses
June 17By Tiffany McElroy
Daily Bruin Contributor
After seven hours of testimony and exhibits, a hearing for an
unfair labor practice complaint filed by a UCLA Medical Center
nurse has been postponed until June 17.
The charge against the medical center was filed by Rosario
Hurley, a nurse in the Coronary Observation Unit who claimed she
was harassed by hospital management to discourage her participation
in organizing the nurse’s union. The action filed last year was
heard May 22 before a Public Employment Relations Board hearing
officer.
Hurley has charged that the nurse manager in the 4-West division
of the coronary observation unit repeatedly harassed her for her
participation as a union representative in the California Nurse’s
Association (CNA). Witnesses at the May hearing provided testimony
that corroborated her claims.
"In my attempt to speak out for my rights, the rights of other
nurses and quality patient care, I was seen as a threat to the
administration," Hurley said.
Officials in UCLA’s nursing department refused to comment on the
details of Hurley’s case, but disputed the claim, citing the fact
that Hurley is the first nurse to charge the nursing department
with harassment due to union participation.
Although she could not discuss Hurley’s case, Cathy Rodgers
Ward, clinical director of nursing, said, "the harassment of
employees who are union representatives is not something that the
department of nursing does.
"To say that it is related to management harassment is just not
true," Ward added. "I think that most of our nurses are happy here
at UCLA. Our turnover rate is about 10 percent, which is very low,"
said Ward.
Hurley charged that in addition to harassment, she was given a
bad evaluation after passing around a petition describing the
unsafe and unfair labor practices that occurred in the 4-West
coronary observation unit.
The nursing department claims that Heidi Crooks, a director of
nursing at the medical center, conducted a thorough review of
Hurley’s claim, and concluded that the evaluation would remain
after deciding that there was no harassment.
"We do not harass people because of union activities or for any
other reasons," Ward said. "We do discipline people who do not meet
expectations, but we work with them to try and get them back to
meeting expectations."
But Hurley claims she was eventually told by the nursing manager
that if she didn’t like it, she could find work elsewhere.
"I tried to work this out with the administration first, but
human resources protects management and not the nursing staff,"
Hurley said.
Since April, CNA has filed six grievances in the nursing
department, ranging from wrongful termination to harassment.
"The pattern this year is that the medical center is targeting
people who are in career positions and have been there for a long
time," said Diane Garcia, a CNA representative. "We are talking
about people who earn top pay, receive benefits and will eventually
receive a pension.
"By getting rid of these nurses and hiring either per diem
(hourly) nurses, or care partners (non-licensed nursing
assistants), the medical center will save lots of money," Garcia
added.
The hearing is scheduled to resume in June, at which time both
parties will finish presenting testimony to the state hearing
officer. A decision on whether the evaluation is valid will be
pending.
"No matter what the outcome is, hopefully this will bring less
contract violations and more union visibility, in the future by the
medical center," Hurley said.