by Mike Hall, Mar 19, 2008

Some 10,000 registered nurses at 10 University of California (UC) medical centers will vote starting today on a new contract reached after months of stalemate with the university. But another nearly 20,000 patient care and service workers at the medical centers remain without a deal.

The nurses, members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), began negotiations in April 2007. After reaching an impasse in October, they entered mediation and resumed talks with the university March 13.

The tentative pact enhances patient safety, protects pensions and retiree health care, restricts mandatory overtime and increases wages. Says RN Geri Jenkins, who works at the UC San Diego Medical Center:

It benefits UC nurses, UC patients, and UC. We have won the kind of patient care and staffing protections that will allow us to retain the high-caliber, experienced RNs needed to provide the quality care needed for our complex patient population.

A key patient safety victory is the first-time-ever limit on mandatory shift rotation, which requires nurses to work the day shift then rotate to night shift. RN James Darby from the UC San Francisco center says:

Shift rotation has been shown to reduce RN alertness and increase medication errors. The first-time-ever limits on mandatory shift rotation that we won ensure that patient needs are considered.

The pact also provides larger raises—equity raises—for nurses at the UC San Diego and Irvine centers, the lowest paid nurses in the system. The contract will cover UC facilities in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Davis and Irvine and student health centers in Riverside, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Berkeley and Merced.

Meanwhile, the 20,000 AFSCME Local 3299 patient care and service workers at the medical centers continue their struggle for a fair contract with the UC system.

Like the nurses, the patient care workers began talks with the university last year and reached an impasse in talks. A mediation process produced an offer from UC late last month that Local 3299 President Lakesha Harrison says is:

…disrespectful and a slap in the face. We still have people collecting cans to support their families. All we’re asking for is a living wage.

The UC workers are paid significantly less than at other hospitals and universities across the state and are seeking wages comparable to those paid for similar work outside the UC system. In addition, the workers want UC to create a step-increase system for wages, as well as the right to bargain over health care and to have a voice in the pension system.

A January report by Center for Labor and Community Research and The Partnership for Working Families finds the UC workers are paid about 25 percent less than the “market rate” for similar workers in their communities.

While the university stonewalls the wage issue, UC executives have pocketed big raises and bonuses, including raising the salaries of chief executive officers and chief nursing officers as much as 39 percent last fall, along with bonuses of as much as $83,000.

Tomorrow, religious activists from the Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE CA) will join Local 3299 members in demonstrations at the San Francisco, Berkeley, Irvine, Los Angeles and San Diego campuses.

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