By Sabrina Singhapattanapong
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
Nurses contracted through staffing agencies may receive $1,000 a
day to work during the slated one-day University of California
nurses’ strike on May 29, according to the California Nurses
Association Web site.
The UC would neither confirm nor deny the $1,000 per 12-hour
shift rate. A statement from the UC Office of the President said
“the UC does not consider the specific names or rates of
these agencies directly relevant to the remaining contract
issues.”
The university may also pay for “fill-in”
nurses’ round trip airfare for those flying in from other
states, as well as “deluxe” hotel accommodations,
CNA’s Web site said.
The UC ““ which did not confirm the offers of travel and
hotel arrangements either ““ is acting quickly to negotiate
the most favorable rates and minimize costs associated with
preparatory strike arrangements, according to UCOP’s
statement.
It has contracted with several staffing agencies to reserve
temporary nursing personnel for the one-day strike, the statement
said. Estimates of costs or staffing needs have not been
disclosed.
Though hiring temporary nurses to replace nurses on strike are
necessary for hospitals to function, nurses are
“outraged” at the UC’s alleged $1,000 a day
offer, said UCLA nurse negotiator Maxine Terk.
“(The UC) can put that money in what they’re
offering the nurses, and we can have a contract,” Terk
said.
In efforts to reach an agreement and thwart a strike of 8,000
nurses from all five UC medical centers, about 100 UC nurses
delivered a letter to UC President Richard Atkinson on Monday, said
CNA spokesman Carl Bloice.
The letter, from Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson and 22 other
members of the state Legislature, called on the UC to
“resolve its dispute” with UC nurses.
“The registered nurses of the UC system are its backbone;
if they are not treated fairly and leave their jobs, the whole
system will be at risk,” the letter said.
CNA and UC officials have bargained over nurses’ demands
for higher wages, a seniority-based compensation system rather than
one based on merit, no mandatory overtime and safer
nurse-to-patient ratios.
In the most recent nurses’ contract, the university
offered a 5 percent wage increase for all nurses, a 1 percent wage
increase based on merit, minimized mandatory overtime and better
staffing ratios.
Though both CNA and the UC’s desire to reach a compromise
rather than striking, no negotiations between the two are scheduled
yet, Bloice said.