Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/447674
C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 11 Maura Metz, a colleague of Felix's who's worked as a vascular and GI medical-surgical RN for 24 years, says UC Davis is "barely com- plying with state law most of the time." She says that she's noticed the hospital has a poor supply of nurses to fill in for those who are out sick, on disability, or on maternity leave. Staffing issues are not isolat- ed to UC Davis. In July, the San Francisco Business Times reported that UCSF Medical Center and trav- eler RN company AMN Healthcare agreed to pay $6 million to a patient who became a brain damaged quadriplegic after a rou- tine surgery when his traveler RN overmedicated and under- observed him. As for pensions and retiree health, nurses view UC's resist- ance to committing to maintain those benefits as a death knell for retaining its experienced nurses and its ability to attract new ones as well. Over and over again, UC RNs say that one of the main reasons they work for UC is the traditionally excellent pen- sion and retiree health benefits they receive after they are too old to work. When Schwarzenegger early this year proposed ditching regular pensions in favor of a 401(k)-style system for state workers, however, UC administrators refused to take a pub- lic position. UC is laying the groundwork for a massive overhaul of these benefits and considering such changes as requiring employees to contribute 8 percent of their income, cutting retiree health benefits, and creating differ- ent benefit tiers by denying many benefits to new hires. "Historically, UCLA has justified their lack of pay competitiveness as a trade-off for the UC pension plan," said Michael Kenny, an RN at UCLA Medical Center's Neuropsychiatric Institute and bargaining team mem- ber. "But other hospitals in the area now offer retirement plans that are getting comparable, so now UCLA is no longer the employer of choice for Los Angeles nurses. Nurses are leaving." The university's unmoving stance on these issues upset UC RNs so much that they voted by a 95 percent margin in early July to reject UC's offer and to authorize the strike over UC's bad faith bargaining and other incidents, such as the suspension of a group of RN activists at UC Irvine Medical Center after the strike vote was announced,. "Throughout bargaining and inside the UC hospitals and clinics, nurses are feeling unheard," said Maureen Dugan, a UCSF RN and bargaining team member. "If UC fails to listen to what nurses need to care for their patients and families, we'll just get a revolving door of inadequate care at what are supposed to be world-class medical centers." —Staff Report "My jaw hit the floor. [UC] said they would only comply with the state ratio law, which basically screws us if the law changes." —Aida Felix, surgical ICU RN from UC Davis Medical Center Go to www.calnurses.org for the latest bargaining updates.