By Sabrina Singhapattanapong
DAILY BRUIN REPORTER
[email protected]
UC nurses cancelled tomorrow’s strike, where up to 8,000
nurses threatened to walk the picket line, because California
Nurses Association and university officials reached a new nurses
contract Friday.
While the CNA retracted its notice to strike and dropped its
unfair practice charges against the UC, the university withdrew its
request for a temporary restraining order ““ previously sought
to thwart the nurses strike.
“We feel the contract that we agreed to is fair to both
sides and, most importantly, acknowledges the good work our nurses
do,” said UC spokesman Paul Schwartz.
For CNA negotiators, the elimination of performance-based pay in
the new contract was a major factor in their decision to
compromise.
“We’ve achieved historic gains,” said Joe
Lindsay, CNA spokesman for the UC division.
The new three-year contract promises to pay nurses based on
their years of nursing experience, rather than on performance
evaluations from superiors, as previously done, according to a
statement by the UC Office of the President.
The UC will also financially reward excellent performance
through bonus-like payments, the statement said.
Nurses at all five UC hospitals will receive wage increases that
range from 19 to 25 percent over the next three years, UCOP
said.
UCLA nurses specifically will receive a 23.4 percent wage
increase over the next three years ““ a 9.2 percent wage
increase between 2002 and 2003 and a 7 percent increase in the
remaining two years ““ according to UCOP.
Experienced UCLA nurses will receive up to $42.65 per hour
““ making them the highest paid registered nurses in Southern
California, including benefits, according to the CNA Web site.
In prior negotiations, the UC proposed a 13.5 percent wage
increase for all nurses over a two-year period, but did not
eliminate the merit-based pay system.
The UC also said nurse to patient ratios were in the hands of
the State Department of Health Services and not the UC.
But the UC and CNA agreed to create a committee ““
consisting of registered nurses and management officials ““ to
oversee implementation of safe staffing ratios in the new contract,
Terk said.
The committee, which will be effective in July 2003, when the
new staffing ratios become law, will assure that registered nurses
will primarily be used in next year’s ratios, she added.
In the new contract, the UC also promises to have nurses work
overtime and on-call only in cases of emergencies, but nurses
remain concerned that the UC may abuse those rights, Terk said.
Nurses would gladly work in emergencies, but do not want to be
forced to work overtime excessively, she added.
Nurses will vote on June 3 and 4 to ratify the new contract.