Blood Bank Workers Will Strike at Red Cross Today

Nurses and technicians for Red Cross blood banks in Los Angeles and Orange counties were to go on strike this morning, raising the prospect that hospitals will be forced to postpone non-emergency surgery if blood shortages arise.

The 225 registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, and technicians represented by the Service Employees International Union, Local 535, voted by more than a 2-1 margin Saturday to reject the latest Red Cross offer for a new three-year contract. The walkout, the first by local Red Cross employees, was to begin at 9 a.m. today, and employees were expected to picket Red Cross locations.

No further bargaining sessions were scheduled, according to union spokeswoman Teresa Conrow. “We’re hoping there will be one as soon as possible,” she said.

The Los Angeles-Orange County Red Cross Regional Blood Program will continue to collect and process blood by using administrative personnel trained to do the procedures performed by the striking nurses and technicians, spokeswoman Gerry Sohle said. The Red Cross provides 450,000 pints of blood annually to about 200 hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties. This is 90% of the annual supply collected in the two counties, according to the Red Cross.

“Every patient is going to be taken care of,” Sohle said, adding that the current blood supply exceeds 100% of desirable levels for all blood types.

Spokesmen for various hospitals said Saturday they would seek to increase in-house blood supplies through hospital staff, patients’ families and other donors to compensate for any eventual loss of blood from the Red Cross. But two hospital spokesmen said optional surgery might be postponed if the strike is prolonged.

Elective Surgery Delayed

“Elective surgery probably would not be performed if the blood supply became seriously low,” said Ron Wise, spokesman for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which receives half of its blood supply from the Red Cross. It gets the rest directly from donors.

“We’ll be monitoring the use of blood on elective surgery,” said a California Medical Center nursing supervisor who asked not to be named. “If the blood supply is getting low, some of our elective surgery will be held up.”

The union and the Red Cross have been wrangling over several issues, primarily wages and staffing levels. The union was seeking a three-year contract with across-the-board pay raises of 6% the first year, 5.5% the second, and 5% the third, spokeswoman Conrow said.

Seek to Close Pay Gap

It is also asking that licensed vocational nurses’ pay be raised so it is closer to the salary of registered nurses because both groups of nurses do essentially the same work at blood banks. Top-scale registered nurses at the Red Cross make $26,942 annually while licensed vocational nurses are paid $18,840. The union wants to narrow the difference to 15% by raising the pay of vocational nurses proportionately.

Red Cross management has offered a 4% percent across-the-board pay increase for each of the three years, said spokeswoman Sohle. Its latest offer would close the gap between licensed vocational nurses and registered nurses by 5%, Conrow said.

The union has also requested a guaranteed minimum staffing ratio of one nurse for every three donors, which union local President Julia Pollard said would ensure donor safety. Union officials said the Red Cross is trying to change the ratio to one nurse for every four donors. Sohle said staffing levels are management’s prerogative.

The previous three-year contract expired last Tuesday. The union had threatened to strike last Thursday but decided at that time that sufficient progress had been made in negotiations to forestall the walkout.