By Sabrina Singhapattanapong
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
After three months of bargaining on a new nurses contract, UC
nurses and university officials have yet to reach a compromise.
The negotiations, which revolved around nurses’ demands
for wage increases, a seniority-based pay system, higher
nurse-to-patient ratios and no mandatory overtime, came to a halt
Thursday.
The California Nurses Association and UC officials agreed to
extend the nurses contract ““ which expired April 30 ““
for an indefinite period.
But UC hospitals may see 8,000 nurses in the picket line if the
nurses refuse to accept the university’s contract proposals
on May 13, when both sides meet again.
Nurses have yet to accept or decline the university’s
proposals.
They remain unhappy about the proposal of a 5 percent wage
increase and the lack of offers to increase nurse-to-patient
staffing ratios, said Maxine Terk, UCLA nurse negotiator.
UC spokesman Paul Schwartz said the university is offering
“the most attractive package” it can while at the same
time “preserving what (it) needs to preserve.”
The UC is offering one of the highest pay increases in a while,
Schwartz said, adding that the university has updated its pay
proposal to an average of 13.5 percent over two years.
The issue of staffing ratios is premature, Schwartz said, since
it is in the hands of the state Department of Health Services
““ which is working on implementing and enforcing Gov. Gray
Davis’ new nurse-to-patient staffing ratios.
The university does not think it is proper to place staffing
ratio issues in a labor contract because it may lead to conflicts
with state regulations, he said.
Joe Lindsay, director of CNA’s UC division, said he cannot
accept Schwartz’s explanation regarding staffing ratios.
Mandatory on-call shifts and overtime have been widely debated
issues between nurses and the university.
Although UC officials agreed to refrain from calling nurses
on-call except in emergency cases, not much progress has been made
in eliminating mandatory overtime, Terk said.
The university is trying to do everything within reason to
minimize mandatory overtime and on-call issues, Schwartz said.
Overtime work is part of hospital life, he added.