Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/447674
Bargaining Update 10 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E I t's been a rollercoaster summer for 9,000 RNs in bargaining talks with the University of California. Negotiations are still in limbo as both sides wait to hear the outcome from an Aug. 25 hearing before a Sacramento Superior Court judge on whether UC nurs- es can strike at this time. The hearing was prompted by an eleventh-hour challenge by management to an unprecedented one-day strike UC nurses had set for July 21. The day before the strike, UC and the Public Employment Relations Board, an agency that handles administration of the state's contracts with public employee unions and which is dom- inated by Schwarzenegger appointees, peti- tioned the court to stop the strike. UC and PERB argued that CNA had not exhausted certain bargaining procedures before call- ing a strike. CNA countered, however, that UC RNs were striking based on unfair labor practice complaints, including UC refusing to bargain about staffing ratios in the con- tract, which are different reasons than what UC presented to the court. Saying he needed more time to review the dispute, Judge Loren McMaster issued a temporary restraining order against the strike and scheduled a hearing for Aug. 11, which was recently postponed to Aug. 25. This is the closest the UC RNs have ever come to striking. Three years ago, the RNs settled a contract a few days before a planned strike. UC nurses said they were disappointed by the court's order. "We were all ready to go," said Delores Penn, an MICU RN at UC Davis Medical Center. "They found some loophole to use. We're upset that UC won't negotiate. They won't even talk about ratios at the table. But we want to have the ratios we're supposed to, not what Arnold is trying to do." In lieu of the strike, RNs still held protests and picketed their facilities on July 21 at the five UC medical centers and various clinics up and down the state. UC nurse leaders say their colleagues are more riled up and ready to take drastic measures than they've ever been. "UCLA nurses are a different breed of nurses this time around," said Manny Punzalan, an oncology RN there and a bargaining team member. "They are more educated and smarter on all the issues that we have pro- posed to UC." Except for one session in early August during which a small step toward protect- ing pensions was made, UC's last, best, and final offer from June remains unchanged after six months of bargaining. RNs on the bargaining team said they are struck by just how unresponsive and stubborn UC can be. UC was still offering meager wage increases that would never bring UC RNs up to their area standards. It also refuses to drop its proposal to switch RNs over to a paid-time-off system, a combined pool of vacation and sick days that RNs feel would force ill staff to come to work or jeopardize their vacation time. UC still wants to dra- matically raise health insurance premiums, and has rejected a CNA proposal to establish round-the-clock lift teams at its hos- pitals. But the biggest roadblocks of all are UC's unwillingness to bargain over guaranteeing minimum RN staffing ratios in the contract, and its refusal to protect RN pensions and retiree health coverage. At the court hearing where PERB petitioned Judge McMaster to stop the strike, some RNs who attended were shocked to hear UC's attorneys admit that ratios were not something it was will- ing to discuss. "My jaw hit the floor," said Aida Felix, a surgical ICU RN from UC Davis Medical Center who stopped in out of curiosity. "They said they would only comply with the state ratio law, which basically screws us if the law changes." Striking a Deal UC RNs defiant as university refuses to bargain on ratios