Nurses Ready to Strike: Fremont-Rideout Hospitals Prepare for Friday Walkout
By Andrea Koskey, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
Aug. 29–Negotiations are off, a strike is on and accusations are flying in the labor showdown between registered nurses and Fremont-Rideout Health Group.
Nurses planning a one-day strike Friday say Fremont-Rideout is locking them out by bringing in replacement nurses for five days — a charge Fremont-Rideout denies. The California Nurses Association filed an unfair labor practice complaint Tuesday.
“In our view, striking makes it necessary to find replacements,” said Tresha Moreland, FRHG’s vice president of human resources. “We are not locking employees out, but if they chose to remove themselves from the schedule we will exercise our right to use replacements during the strike.”
According to a member of the nurses’ negotiating team, a federal mediator has suspended negotiations indefinitely because neither party will budge.
The last meeting was Thursday. The final two talks, scheduled for today and Thursday, were canceled.
“The nurses gave the administration their final compromised proposal,” Rideout Memorial Hospital ICU RN Heather Avalos said of a 53-page proposal. “They rejected the entire thing.”
In that proposal, Avalos said nurses addressed patient care issues, including staffing ratios, “safe floating,” safe patient handling, and a 7 percent pay increase, as well as uniform benefits and retirement.
An example of the proposed change in “safe floating” would see nurses trained in cancer treatment not be asked to “float” to labor and delivery when staffing is needed.
As of Aug. 21, hospital officials offered to increase the nurses’ pay by 5.5 percent for the first year and 5 percent for the second year of a two-year contract. In a statement, officials also said they addressed nurses’ concerns with safe floating and state-mandated staffing ratios.
About 450 nurses agree with the efforts made by the union, but not all are represented by the nurses’ association. Seventy-five percent of those nurses last month voted in favor of the union’s efforts.
In preparation for the strike, hospital officials have contracted with an out-of-state agency to hire replacement nurses for a minimum of five days.
Moreland said the hospital’s cost for employing out-of-state nurses isn’t known because the number of nurses who will be involved in the strike is not known.
Replacement nurses “have no interest in the community or what’s going on,” Avalos said.
According to Avalos, nurses received written notice that replacement nurses will be at the hospitals for five days.
“We’re going to be locked out for four additional days,” she said. “They are requiring us to show up for work, even if we’re not scheduled, to tell us what days we will be working.”
Liz Jacobs of the CNA said the out-of-state replacement nurses are unnecessary.
“A one-day strike can be handled locally instead of spending valuable money on out-of-state nurses,” Jacobs said.
Hospital officials, however, said they are not “locking” anyone out, but if nurses choose not to show up to work on strike day they will be forced to use replacement nurses through the weekend.
The union filed complaints Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board against Fremont-Rideout for unfair labor practices and alleged harassment.
The complaint says Fremont-Rideout is disciplining RNs for union activity, interrogating nurses about the union and plans to strike, and ordering pro-union members to not speak about the union on hospital premises, while anti-union nurses are able to speak out.
Avalos said she’s seen such activity firsthand, but declined to give details pending an investigation by the federal board.
Moreland would not comment on allegations, but said the hospital will respond to the NLRB in an appropriate forum.
Nurses plan to picket 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday at Fremont and Rideout hospitals in Yuba City and Marysville, respectively, as well as the Fremont-Rideout Cancer Center and the Feather River Surgery Center. They will also be handing out pamphlets and information on the strike, Avalos said.
Appeal-Democrat reporter Andrea Koskey can be reached at 749-4709 or at akoskey@appealdemocrat.com
—–
To see more of the Appeal-Democrat, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.appeal-democrat.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.