National Nurses United

NewsBriefs. Sept 2006 9/1/06 12:14 PM Page 8 NewsBriefs Major Progress on Kaiser Contract, but Big Issues Remain As Registered Nurse was going on press, the Kaiser bargaining team announced a tentative agreement had been reached. See www.calnurses.org for more details and watch the upcoming issue for a full report. he rn team negotiating new terms for nearly 14,000 RNs and NPs with Kaiser Permanente bargained intensely right up to the current contract's Aug. 31 expiration date, making major progress on many patient care and workplace issues, but having yet to resolve significant economic issues as of press time. Bargaining is continuing into the afternoon of Aug. 31 as this is being written. As of Aug. 30, the bargaining team had met with Kaiser representatives 20 times, logging 10 to 12-hour sessions in the later stages. Important tentative agreements have been reached, including winning staffing T ratio language, arbitration of staffing disputes, affirmation of no cancellation language, a zero-lift and safe patient handling policy, a strengthened float pool working toward elimination of involuntary floating, an RN preceptor and mentoring program, and GRASP improvements. To prepare RNs for a situation that could end either in agreement or no agreement by the end of scheduled bargaining, the team has already issued notices for regional meetings throughout September where RNs will be asked to either ratify a new agreement or take a strike vote. "Kaiser is finally hearing RNs' and NPs' issues and taking significant steps to resolve them," said Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC president, and chair of the Kaiser RN bargaining team. "However, RNs and NPs have serious concerns about their futures and Kaiser's ability to recruit new nurses by improving pensions and postretirement medical benefits, and these issues must be addressed." —staff report CALIFORNIA IL RNS SEEK TO STRENGTHEN NURSING PRACTICE LAWS s the illinois legislature prepares in 2007 to review and reauthorize the state's Nursing and Advanced Practice Nursing Act, which is scheduled to sunset in 2008, CNA/NNOC registered nurses there are gearing up to propose model language that would strengthen and protect the power of nurses to act as patient advocates. Currently, patient advocacy language— such as can be found in California's Nursing Practice Act—is virtually absent in the Illinois laws. As a result, registered nurses A find themselves with all the duties and responsibilities of acting as patient advocates, but without any of the authority. In California, RNs have the duty and the right to advocate for patients, and Illinois nurses hope to win similar language. Recently, CNA/NNOC's nursing practice division conducted an in-depth training on the Illinois nursing practice act for RNs with the Cook County Bureau of Health Services Professional Practice Committee. —staff report ILLINOIS 8 REGISTERED NURSE W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G WRAP-UP REPORT CHICAGO for the fifth straight year, CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro has been ranked by industry magazine Modern Healthcare as among the 100 most influential people in healthcare, this year coming in at number 51. "While doctors and big-time administrators are regulars, the up-andcoming activism of nurses is reflected on the list by Rose Ann DeMoro," wrote the publication. "A 70,000-member nurses' union, the CNA is one of the most aggressive industry groups in America." The article then cited CNA/NNOC's leadership of the campaign to defeat ballot initiatives in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2005 special election as an example of the organization's influence. SACRAMENTO, Calif. some 280 rns working for the Sacramento County Corrections and Division of Health and Human Services voted to ratify a new contract Aug. 29, an agreement that contains major gains in workplace safety, a 33 to 45 percent wage increase over the five-year term, and language that strengthens the role of their Professional Practice Committee. The agreement came after contentious negotiations, including a July vote to authorize a strike if necessary. The county's inability to recruit and retain enough RNs due to substandard wages for County nurses made it hard to provide quality patient care and exacerbated safety problems for those working in the jails. The contract establishes two panels to address safety issues for RNs assigned to jails and for public health RNs making home visits. LOS ANGELES registered nurses at Olympia Medical Center held a vigil Aug. 28 to show their dismay at a list of 18 major takeaways the hospital is seeking as they open contract negotiations for the first time after ownership of the facility changed from Tenet to a group of physicians. RNs are calling these demands insulting and say they would result in a serious erosion of nurses' current benefits and standards. Among the cuts sought by the hospital are major reductions in medical benefits, working conditions, seniority rights, and proposals to curtail the ability of nurses to collectively advocate for their patients. SEPTEMBER 2006

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