National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:May 5/27/08 12:32 PM Page 8 above: At the Cook County Bureau of Health Services' Stroger Hospital, pediatric ICU nurses stopped for a moment to enjoy the cake CNA/NNOC delivered in honor of Nurses Appreciation Week. Organizers spent two days delivering cakes to each unit and for each shift at Stroger and other facilities where our nurses work so hard all year long. Pictured left to right are RNs Jennifer Nhochai, Rosalina Roxas, Judith Yu, and Adrienne Winchester. below: In May at the National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition in Chicago, CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents member Geri Jenkins, RN, hands a brochure on patient ratios to one of the hundreds of nurses who visited the CNA/NNOC booth. Registered nurses from hospitals and clinics in Cook County also helped Jenkins greet and connect with the nearly 8,000 RN attendees. In the evenings, the CNA/NNOC team of nurses and staff welcomed overflow crowds of nurses to a hospitality suite at the conference hotel where conversation was lively and nurses shared their experiences. Many wanted to know more details about how California's RN-topatient ratio battles were waged and won, since so many nurses nationwide still face crushing patient loads and difficult working conditions. 8 REGISTERED NURSE W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G labor practices, validating the RNs' 2005 call to strike. Through The legal victory adamant closely follows anoth- refusals to er major accomplish- consider ment for the UC the PTO bargaining team in program, the form of a progres- the bargainsive and far-reaching ing team contract. As reported successfully last month, the agree- shut down ment was reached UC's and ratified in March attempts 2008 after nearly a to introduce year of bargaining and the punitive fact-finding. Perse- and illverance paid off for advised the UC RNs, who policy. secured a superb contract which extended RNs' pension and retiree health protection, won good pay increases (including additional raises at UC Irvine and UC San Diego, the two lowest-paying medical centers), and established new staffing and union protections. One significant achievement of the UC RNs' new contract was saying "no" to UC's paid time off (PTO) proposal. Under the PTO proposal, registered nurses calling in sick would be required to use 24 hours of vacation pay before being allowed access to sick leave pay. Negotiators successfully argued that PTO would encourage RNs to come to work ill, which, in a hospital environment filled with already-vulnerable patients, could be potentially disastrous. Through adamant refusals to consider the PTO program, including custommade T-shirts which spelled out the message "NO TO PTO," the bargaining team successfully shut down UC's attempts to introduce the punitive and ill-advised policy. Settling an excellent contract and securing an important confirmation of their workers' rights calls for a double celebration for UC nurses. "This is a critical affirmation of the right of public employees to strike if needed to defend their members and the public interest at a time when the University, on behalf of other employers, hoped to bar public workers from their constitutional right of free speech and assembly," said Geri Jenkins, a UCSD RN, bargaining team member, and member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents. Negotiations begin on additional raises, benefit protections and staffing in July 2008. —staff report M AY 2 0 0 8 DONNA SMITH WRAP-UP REPORT

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