Wednesday, October 15, 1997
Health care workers reach tentative plan
LABOR Threat of strike drives agreement giving pay raises,
retraining to medical center professionals
By Kathryn Combs
Daily Bruin Contributor
While hospitals across Los Angeles County succumb to the
economic pressures of managed care, patients are not the only ones
affected.
Earlier this month, health science professionals and registered
nurses, afraid of layoffs and replacement by part-time employees,
were threatening to strike at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
However, the Oct. 3 strike was called off and contract
negotiations continued until midnight on Oct. 10.
Unhappy with proposed Los Angeles County measures to increase
the amount of outpatient services, employees are fearful of being
replaced by part-time employees, who they feel are also less
qualified. A joint project between UCLA and the county, Harbor-UCLA
is largely under county control.
Due to downsizing, new federal proposals have required complete
restructuring of the health care delivery system, said Jolene
Kiolbassa, spokesperson for Local 660 of the Service Employees
International Union.
"This would lower the number of inpatient services and increase
the number of outpatient clinics. This is a massive change,"
Kiolbassa said.
"The county is reengineering and they have a big plan to save
millions and millions of dollars," said Patty Margaret, a
registered nurse at Harbor-UCLA and one of the bargaining
representatives present during negotiations.
Near midnight Friday, management and the nurses’ union finally
came to a tentative agreement at the Rancho Los Amigos Medical
Center.
The terms of the nurses’ tentative agreement included a 10
percent pay raise over a three-year period, a four percent inequity
raise, $1 million per year for retraining programs and talk of job
protection. Harbor officials could not be reached for their
comments on the agreement.
"We were asking for no layoffs. We were asking for maintenance
of our seniority," Margaret said. "We were asking for retraining
for the nurses and we were asking for no contracting out."
Concerned about job security, medical laboratory technicians,
physical therapists and occupational therapists also bargained for
wages, job security, fringe benefits and vital retraining
programs.
On Oct. 3, health care science professionals at Harbor-UCLA had
already settled on an agreement which included a 10 percent pay
raise and a three percent inequity raise over a three-year period.
However, the nursing unit held out the longest during their
contract negotiations, and plans of a strike were still up in the
air.
This agreement ends negotiations, but may not be the final terms
of employment.
"We were trying to secure our jobs for patient care and for the
idea that medicine shouldn’t be given to ways of money," Margaret
added.
Regarding the tentative labor agreement, negotiators expressed
their disappointment.
"I’m disappointed that (the union) didn’t use the strength that
it had and the overwhelming support of the nurses to get more clear
job protection language," Margaret said.
"They bought us off with the money," she said.