Strike averted at Los Robles Hospital

There will be no healthcare workers strike at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, thanks to a new contract that was reached last week.

The agreement between the employees union and the Los Robles parent company, HCA, Inc. came after 15 days of long, late night meetings, say those involved. It affects 4,000 employees at five California hospitals. The others are West Hills Hospital, Riverside Hospital Community and two facilities in San Jose.

"There was a tremendous amount of effort on this contract by both sides, with some difficult issues to tackle," said Sue Weinstein, executive director of SEIU 121 RN, the local nurses' branch of Service Employers International Union. "We are very happy with this agreement."

The three-and-a-half year contract offers new and strengthened benefits for employees, which in turn will help the hospital attract and retain nurses and other workers, according to Los Robles President and CEO Jim Sherman. It covers about 1,000 employees at the hospital, including 533 nurses currently on staff.

"Both sides were extremely serious in reaching a resolution that was fair to all parties," Sherman said.

Under the deal, nurses and staff members will receive several new benefits. Employees and their dependents will be offered a free PPO health plan, something "pretty much unheard of in this day and age," Sherman said. Nurses who take continuing education courses will be paid for their class time.

A 40 percent wage increase over the life of the contract, with an initial 15 percent in the first 10 months will be given to most caregivers. Employees also will earn bonuses based on years of service. A new wage scale will be implemented next year. Until now there was no such scale in place, said Lesley Whitehouse, a Los Robles emergency room nurse.

"People were getting hired above people who were already here and had more experience," said Whitehouse, 52, who has been at Los Robles for 23 years. She was on the contract bargaining team and is a former president of the local nurses union.

To avoid future problems, a new staffing committee is being created so that employees have someone to consult when staffing issues arise. Whitehouse said the contract gives nurses the right to strike if their needs aren't met.

"I hope it's the start of a different relationship between our union and management," Whitehouse said.

The contract is retroactive to July 1 of this year and runs through March 31, 2010.

One of the nurses' biggest complaints was the use of temporary workers to staff Los Robles. Permanent hospital employees were sent home without pay when patient levels dipped, but temporary nurses had to be paid according to the terms of their contracts, Whitehouse said.

According to Sherman, the temporary workers were needed to fill in the gaps in staffing. At any given time there are 300 people on staff working with patients in nursing units. Recruitment has been an issue, Sherman said, not only at Los Robles, but in the healthcare industry nationwide. The hospital presently has 70 nursing vacancies.

"It sounds like a lot but remember that we're open 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Sherman said. "We are covering all our shifts."

He said the new contract should help the hospital recruit and retain new staff, decreasing the need for temporary workers.

Although employees didn't get everything they wanted, it's a good first step, Whitehouse said.

"In order to get some things we had to give up on others," she said. "You have to decide what's more important."

The previous contract negotiated two years ago had expired on June 30, but was extended until July 31. That contract took 18 months to negotiate and employees got nothing, Whitehouse said, because of a no-strike agreement between the union and HCA. What made the difference this time was the threat of a strike.

"We had no power," Whitehouse said. "The strike vote this time made them nervous. They couldn't have staffed the hospital."

Whitehouse came away impressed with Sherman. She said he is the only Los Robles CEO to come to the bargaining table to negotiate a contract.

"He's only been CEO a couple of years but he has taken a personal interest," Whitehouse said. "I was very pleased he was there."

The hospital should be given credit for the changes, according to Weinstein.

"I have to applaud the hospital in coming forward with the language and economic package that can only benefit nurses, patients, the hospital, and recruitment and retention," Weinstein said.