“Registered nurses at Chino Valley Medical Center began a three-day strike on Tuesday, Oct. 29, frustrated by contract talks that have dragged on for most of this year.
The picketing nurses, members of United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, are seeking their first contract with hospital owner Prime Healthcare. A member picketing the Walnut Avenue hospital said Prine Healthcare is offering salaries that are as much as $10 per hour less than other registered nurses in the area make.
The union also claims the hospital has illegally conducted surveillance of nurses on the job in an attempt to prevent them from holding union-centered discussions and other activities. Charges alleging these violations were filed with the National Labor Relations Board on Oct. 18.
The two sides have been in talks since February, said Sonia Chesterfield, a 17-year veteran of the medical center and a member of the union’s negotiating committee. Some progress has been made on benefits, vacations and holiday pay, she said, and a federal mediator has presided over the three most recent sessions.
“But we haven’t made any progress on salary,” Chesterfield said. “Basically they’re telling us that they don’t have any money.”
Greg Wilson, the union’s chief negotiator, said nurses there start at $28 or $29 per hour. He said UNAC/UHCP is asking for a 3 % raise for each of the three years of the contract, and the hospital is only offering a flat 2.5% increase.
Hospital spokesperson Brianne Underwood said in an emailed statement that the hospital will function with a full staff during the three-day strike. She added that they have been negotiating in good faith to find the best contract for its nurses and its patients and will continue doing do.
“Decisions aren’t made will bullhorns on a sidewalk,” Underwood said in the email. “They are made at the negotiating table.”
Chesterfield said that relatively low pay makes it hard for the hospital to keep its nurses. During a six-month period earlier this year, turnover among RNs was 41.75%, creating a dangerous staff shortage.
“A lot of new nurses leave even before their orientation period is through,” Chesterfield said. “They go to other hospitals that are paying more.”
The union claims Prine Healthcare, a privately owned operator of 45 hospitals nationally, is on solid financial ground and had a 17.51% operating margin at the Chino hospital in 2017 and an estimated 9.89% margin in 2018.
The start of negotiations in February followed about eight years of legal challenges that saw Prime Healthcare attempt to block UNAC/UHCP from representing the Chino nurses. The union won the right to bargain for the nurses after a series of decisions by the National Labor Relations Board.
The final decision was upheld by a federal appeals court, in a 3-0 decision in July 2018.”
Source: dailybulletin.com
