National Nurses United

6 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 NEWS BRIEFS CALIFORNIA I n the past five years, Michelle Gutier- rez-Vo, a charge RN who works in the medicine clinic at Kaiser Permanente Fremont Medical Center in Fremont, Calif., has seen a huge increase in the numbers of very, very sick patients coming through her doors, but management is para- doxically reducing registered nurse staff. "It doesn't make sense," said Gutierrez- Vo, who is also a member of the CNA/ NNOC board of directors and of the CNA Kaiser bargaining team. "If you don't have enough nurses there to help the physicians, or absorb and triage these patients, then we're talking about life versus death. If we can't get to these patients timely, then we're losing them. That's immoral and unacceptable." With herself and entire family as Kaiser members, she constantly wonders, "What if that was my kid? What if that's my mom?" Winning safer staffing systemwide is one of the major goals on Gutierrez-Vo and the entire Kaiser Northern California bargaining team's agenda as they kicked off 2017 bargaining talks this summer. The master contract covering some 18,000 Kaiser registered nurses and nurse practitioners at more than 22 facilities throughout California is expiring this fall, and members are determined to negotiate a contract that not only holds the line on economic standards, but also requires Kaiser to provide the level of care for which patients are paying. RNs and NPs throughout Kaiser are reporting that, despite the system's big growth in membership and record billions in profits, they are struggling mightily to provide patients the care they need and deserve. According to Kaiser's own press releases and business publications, Kaiser added 510,000 members in 2014, 650,000 members in 2015, and 429,000 members in 2016—in addition to 651,272 members coming from its February 2017 acquisition of a plan in Washington state—for a grand total of some 11 million members nation- wide. Kaiser made $3.5 billion in net income last year. Nurses would like to see that money reinvested in safe staffing to raise the quality of patient care. "Give a nurse the time and tools to do their job, and the patient will be safe and well cared for," said Sarah Johnson, an emergency RN at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center for more than 16 years, in her opening statement during bargaining talks. "I have seen too many nights with insufficient staffing, bringing long wait times in the lobby, or in the patient rooms as they wait for meds, treat- ments, and admission. When staffing is stretched dangerously thin, and then I have no IV pump, cooling blanket, or arterial line cable, my patient suffers. How can I do my job when my tools are unavailable?" Another main goal of this year's bargain- ing talks will be to fold some 500 patient care coordinators who voted in February for union representation with CNA/NNOC into the master contract. Patient care coordina- tors (PCCs) are responsible for discharge planning and determining the right level of and setting for care, but often find that they are uncomfortable or disagree with the plan their managers are pushing—yet are not protected by a contract so that they can speak up and advocate for patients. On top of patient care concerns, PCCs say they need a contract governing standard work- place issues such as salary equity, scheduling, seniority and job bidding, workflow, discipline, and job security. Kaiser is resisting efforts by PCCs to be included in the contract talks. "We want to be part of the 18,000," said Angeles Cayabyab, an RN who has worked at Kaiser for 26 years, and as a PCC for the last 18,000 Kaiser RNs kick off 2017 bargaining Determined to improve staffing for patients

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