By Sabrina Singhapattanapong
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
California Nurses Association and university officials will
return to the bargaining table today in hopes of reaching a new
nurses’ contract and thwarting the first UC nurse strike in
its 18-year history.
But if nurses’ demands for higher wages, no mandatory
overtime, seniority-based pay and better nurse-to-patient ratios
are not met, about 8,000 nurses at the five UC medical centers will
walk out for a day, said Joe Lindsay, CNA spokesman for the UC.
The hospitals would then have to hire temporary nurses, delay
surgeries and close its doors to many incoming patients, said UCLA
nurse negotiator Maxine Terk.
Nurses are required by law to give the UC a 10-day notice before
striking, said UC spokesman Paul Schwartz ““ something nurses
have not done.
The 10-day notice should be enough time for the UC to figure out
how they will handle the one-day strike, said UCLA labor
representative Kristin Eldridge.
Unsuccessful negotiations between CNA and UC officials over the
past three months triggered nurses last week to authorize the
strike.
UCLA Medical Center, in conjunction with the UC Office of the
President, is working toward a settlement agreement and takes the
idea of a nursing strike seriously, said hospital spokeswoman
Roxanne Moster.
If a strike occurs, all the UCs have contingency plans in place
to “continue to provide quality patient services,”
Moster said. Further talks of the UC’s “extensive
contingency plan” are not “fruitful to discuss”
during negotiations, she added.
Finding temporary nurses to replace the 2,200 nurses between
UCLA’s Westwood and Santa Monica medical centers would be
costly for UCLA alone, Eldridge said.
Though nurses plan to strike for one day, it is possible the
strike will last longer, Terk said.
Nurses may fly from all over the country to meet the needs of
increased nursing shortage in a strike, Terk said, adding that
costs may reach up to $5,000 a week per nurse, including room and
board, for nurses transferred from other hospitals across the
country.
But the UCs ““ which she said would have to empty out the
hospital as much as they can ““ will most likely rely on
agencies to replace nurses on strike, she added.
UC medical centers may also have to reduce services to patients
temporarily, said Schwartz, who believes a strike “does not
serve anyone ““ certainly not patients.”
Hiring temporary nurses that may not have the same experience as
existing nurses raises concerns about patient care for
Eldridge.
“There’s no continuity of care,” Eldridge
said.
“There’s no way (temporary nurses) could be oriented
and be competent enough to take care of these patients.”
In 1996, some UCLA nurses took part in a “sickout,”
where nurses did not show up for work because they were upset with
the UC’s proposals for pay cuts.
The “sickout” pushed back many patient surgeries,
especially with 100 percent “sickout” compliance in the
cardio thoracic intensive care unit, which takes care of critically
ill patients undergoing organ transplants.
Though nurses will be on the picket line in an event of a
strike, Lindsay said nurses will still provide care for critically
ill patients and assist any life-threatening situation.
In 2000, nurses at three UC medical centers ““ Davis,
Irvine and San Francisco ““ voted to strike, but within 24
hours, the nurses contract was settled, Terk said.