National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:October 2007 10/18/07 12:04 AM Page 8 NewsBriefs CHW RNs Win New Contract, Set Stage For Systemwide 2009 Bargaining na/nnoc members at nine Catholic Healthcare West hospitals in California voted overwhelmingly in September to ratify a groundbreaking and progressive new contract. Effective immediately as of ratification on Sept. 7, the new contract passed by 98 percent of the vote and covers 3,500 nurses at facilities in Southern California and California's Central Coast. The landslide ratification was the triumphant final chapter in a tense and contentious summer. Finding the prospect of facing healthcare takeaways completely unacceptable, RNs picketed both Southern and Northern California CHW facilities. At St. Bernardine Medical Center, 300 nurses joined the picket line, according to CNA/NNOC board member and CHW bargaining team member Allen Fitzpatrick. "Many of these nurses had never picketed their hospital before," he said. "It was an amazing thing to see." In July, RNs voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike. The takeaways, along with other contentious proposals, were quickly dropped by the employer. By defeating the takeaways, CHW RNs maintained firm and reasonable guidelines on healthcare benefits. Encouraged by the tacit acceptance of healthcare takeaways by another union, CHW had proposed a cap on their contributions towards healthcare premiums, shifting the remaining and ever-growing costs of market-based healthcare onto the shoulders of RNs and their families. By proposing these takeaways to Southern California in 2007, CHW made it clear that it intended to C 8 REGISTERED NURSE do the same when Northern California contracts come up for renegotiation in 2009. CHW RNs eliminated this problem not only by refusing takeaways, but by winning the right to negotiate a systemwide CHW contract in two years. The contract to be negotiated in 2009 will cover 10,000 nurses at 25 CHW facilities in California. The ability to negotiate for such a large number of members will give the RNs unprecedented power as patient advocates and greater access in shaping workplaces which benefit patient and caregiver alike. "We were able to win all our demands at CHW through the involvement of hundreds of nurses," Fitzpatrick explained. "Imagine what we will be able to achieve with thousands." Using language that CHW Division Director Jill Furillo calls "nationally significant," the CHW bargaining team laid important groundwork for preserving the integrity of the nursing profession in the face of threats posed by medical technology. The contract specifies that technology must not be used to replace or downplay the role of nursing, or to encourage deskilling of the RN workforce. RNs are guaranteed a voice in shaping how the technology is designed and implemented in their facilities. Most important is the guarantee that medical technology will not be allowed to supplant the medical expertise and judgment skills of healthcare providers, who will be allowed to override technology. Equally noteworthy was the inclusion of language on nurse-to-patient ratios. Although AB 394, mandating the ratios, is California law, its recognition in the CHW contract allows the RNs to take more active control of implementing and preserving those ratios in their workplaces. Through inclusion in the contract, ratios violations can be addressed by PPCs and through arbitrations. Rather than depending on government enforcement, violations can be identified and immediately addressed in the local arena by those who are directly affected. "It's empowering for the nurses," Fitzpatrick said. Other notable items in the contract include language prohibiting the reclassification of nurses as managers, thus removing them from union representation, and pay raises between 16-21 percent over the course of the two-year contract. CNA/NNOC feels confident that these significant improvements to the contract will continue to make nursing an attractive and increasingly popular career path. Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro stated that the agreement "will certainly allow for the retention of experienced nurses and the recruitment of new nurses, while setting the stage for a statewide contract ... in 2009." With this excellent triumph, she added, "the nurses believe their voice was heard." Indeed, for many of the nurses, whose previous two CNA/ NNOC contract negotiations with CHW were fairly placid, the challenge, struggle, and victory of this contract have opened their eyes to the importance of being vocal advocates of workers' rights and patient advocacy. Many RNs from the CHW bargaining teams have already traveled to Nevada to show support for nurses organizing at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev. The contract has "created new activists," said Fitzpatrick, "but more importantly, it gave a lot of the nurses a power that they didn't really know they had in the past." St. Bernardine RN and CNA/NNOC board member Carol Koelle agreed, saying, "It showed the new RNs the power that we have with collective bargaining." The nine facilities covered by the new contract are California Hospital Medical Center, Community Hospital of San Bernardino, St. Bernardine Medical Center, Glendale Memorial Hospital, San Gabriel Valley Medical Center, St. Mary's Medical Center Long Beach, Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, Marian Medical Center, and French Hospital. —erika larson CALIFORNIA W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G OCTOBER 2007

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