Hollister
– Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital nurses, frustrated with the
negotiations process over their labor contract, have voted to
permit a strike if progress isn’t made soon, according to a
spokesman from the California Nurses Association.
Hollister – Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital nurses, frustrated with the negotiations process over their labor contract, have voted to permit a strike if progress isn’t made soon, according to a spokesman from the California Nurses Association.
“We haven’t received a written notice of their intent to strike,” said hospital Spokeswoman Frankie Valent-Arballo. “But we understood that they were voting (Wednesday) and some of our nurses have told us that they voted to strike.”
Association Spokesman Joe Lindsay confirmed that the vote authorized a strike, but was not a formal decision to do so. Typically, officials say a 10-day notice of intent to strike is given to the hospital, ostensibly to allow sufficient time for substitutes to be hired. Because no date has been set, there is no guarantee that the strike will even happen.
“First we want to set up another meeting to continue negotiations,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay said the union’s major contentions with the hospital revolve around staffing, or the lack thereof. Currently the union feels there are not enough nurses employed by Hazel Hawkins, and as a result employees are working unreasonably long hours, sometimes without breaks.
“There are a number of issues, but basically it all boils down to that,” Lindsay said. “We’re proposing that enforceable staffing standards be added, that nurses be allowed to the meal and rest breaks that are required by law.”
The union also wants the hospital to adjust pension and salary so that they are more in line with hospitals in the nearby areas – namely Gilroy and Salinas – that compete with Hazel Hawkins for nurses.
“Right now they’re way below both hospitals in the area,” Lindsay said. “That makes it very difficult to recruit nurses.”
Should a strike take place, officials said the remaining workforce would be used to continue providing patient care, as well as traveling nurses who would be hired for the duration of the strike. When asked if the hospital was concerned about temporary employees refusing jobs with Hazel Hawkins in order to avoid being labeled as “strike-breakers,” Underwood said the hospital could work with firms that specialize in sending nurses to work at facilities where strikes are under way.
“If there is a strike, we have contingency plans to make sure we can continue to provide our patients with quality care,” Hazel Hawkins CEO Ken Underwood said.
A strike has the potential to affect roughly 120 registered nurses represented by the association, working in both the hospital proper and the skilled nursing facility. Hospital officials said a strike would probably not affect the licensed vocational nurses and registered nurse practitioners employed by Hazel Hawkins, nor anyone working in one of the district’s clinics in San Benito County.
Underwood said the nurses’ labor contract had been under negotiation since late August; the union’s contract is revisited every three years.
“We haven’t even got to the items about benefits and pay,” Underwood said. “The last time we did this, negotiations took seven months. We think the union is being a little premature with this decision.”
In the meantime, officials say that whether the union strikes or not, negotiations will continue until an agreement is reached.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
