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Unionized Nurses in California Reach Agreement With Catholic Healthcare West

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 15:01 CDT

Jul. 13--In a new four-year contract with its unionized nurses, Catholic Healthcare West has agreed to adopt standards dictating how many patients can be assigned to a nurse, both sides announced Tuesday.

Although the staffing levels were already in effect at the nonprofit hospital chain, they had become the center of a political battle after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had tried to undo state rules that required one nurse to every five patients in general medical wards.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican sworn into office weeks before the standards went into effect, promised that he would reduce what he described as a regulatory morass that made the cost of doing business too onerous.

The California Nurses Association, which represents 4,700 nurses covered under the new contract, described the deal as a major win because it ensures that staffing levels will remain in place at CHW even if they are overturned in the courts or through regulation. The union said it believed the new contract was the first to include the standards.

"The governor is trying to roll back ratios," said CNA spokesman Charles Idelson. "Here we have a system that's putting the ratios in the contract to make sure they are enforceable."

The Schwarzenegger administration had issued emergency regulations to overturn the staffing ratios, which the nurses' union has successfully challenged -- at least for now -- in court.

CHW also called the agreement a success: "The new contract, once ratified, will strengthen CHW by helping us retain and recruit the skilled registered nurses who are at the heart of the care we provide," Ernie Urquhart, CHW's senior vice president for human resources, said in a statement.

The CHW agreement, which has to be ratified by union members, covers nurses in 12 Northern and Central California hospitals, including Mercy General Hospital and Methodist Hospital in Sacramento; Mercy Hospital of Folsom; Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael; and Woodland Healthcare.

The contract also sets up an arbitration process to enforce staffing levels, with a neutral third-party making final calls, Idelson said.

The new state regulations were a hard-fought victory for the nurses' union, won during the tenure of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. The rules had previously required that one nurse be assigned to every six patients.

Currently, the Schwarzenegger administration is appealing a Sacramento Superior Court ruling that effectively keeps the staffing ratios in place, said Ken August, a spokesman for the California Department of Health Services.

CHW's adoption of the staffing standards into its contract could have one of two outcomes, said Ed O'Neil, director of the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco.

If the ratios remain law, CHW could ensure a productive, uncontentious relationship with its workforce. If, however, the standards are overturned, the hospital chain could find itself at a competitive disadvantage, he said.

"It's state law, but the hospitals are still fighting this," O'Neil said. "The reason it's a big win for the union is CHW is saying, 'This is a new standard.'"

Adopting the staffing ratios into labor contracts has emerged as a significant sticking point in at least one other round of negotiations.

At the University of California teaching hospitals, including in Davis, nurses have voted to strike after negotiators were unable to reach agreement, in part, after adopting language for staffing levels.

The union wants the contract to include such wording because, Idelson said, it would help with compliance. But UC believes "it's already covered under the law ... it's not a subject of bargaining," said UC spokesman Noel Van Nyhuis.

Under the CHW contract, nurses will also see an average 26 percent wage and benefit gain over four years, CHW spokeswoman Jill Dryer said. Idelson said the Sacramento-area nurses, who earn an average hourly wage of $34 an hour with five years of experience, will see their wages rise by 28 percent.

The previous contract expired June 30, but was extended for further negotiations.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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