Nurses’ 10-Day Strike Against Red Cross Ends

Striking nurses ended their 10-day-old walkout against Red Cross facilities in Orange and Los Angeles counties Tuesday, ratifying a new three-year contract that includes wage increases and partial guarantees on staffing ratios, which had been a key issue in the dispute.

The nurses will return to work at Southern California blood centers today, ending their first strike ever, said Dee Contreras, chief of the nurses’ bargaining committee.

Negotiators for Red Cross and the nurses, represented by Service Employees International Union Local 535, reached agreement at 7 a.m. Tuesday after a lengthy bargaining session at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor headquarters. The 200 nurses approved the deal Tuesday afternoon.

In Orange County, Red Cross spokeswoman Sylva Fanton said blood-collection offices in Huntington Beach and Anaheim, which had been closed because of the strike, will open today. Only the county’s main Red Cross office, in Santa Ana, remained open during the strike, staffed by non-union nurses.

In addition, Fanton said, the Red Cross bloodmobiles will begin running again immediately, although several stops that had been scheduled during the latter part of this week were canceled because of the uncertainty caused by the strike. One bloodmobile is scheduled for today, two will run Thursday and one Friday, she said.

During the strike, blood donations totaled 33 to 67 units a day at the Santa Ana office, which normally collects about 100 units a day. The Anaheim and Huntington Beach offices usually collect 45 units daily, while the fleet of five bloodmobiles are responsible for about 200 units daily, she said.

Fanton said about 45 union nurses will report back to work this morning, but it is expected to take about a week for blood donations to reach their previous levels. Recruiters usually set up appointments for donors about a week in advance, she said.

“Probably we’ll have some people walk in, but it will take a few days to get the word out,” Fanton said.

‘Normal Speed’ Next Week

“By next week, we expect to be fully operational and running at normal speed,” she said.

Red Cross officials said throughout the strike that they had maintained an adequate blood supply to serve the needs of area hospitals, having received supplies from other Red Cross facilities throughout the country. But the Red Cross did not want the strike to drag on because there was the potential of shortages developing and because Red Cross historically has had good relations with organized labor.

About 38% of all blood donated to the Red Cross comes from union members, according to Andrew Banks, assistant director of the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University in Miami.

While the new contract was approved by a comfortable vote of 126 to 49, many nurses said they remain concerned about one of the major issues in the strike--staffing ratios.

Contreras said the nurses had secured a side letter agreement that a nurse will have to obtain blood from no more than three donors at one time. The nurses had said throughout the strike that Red Cross had been trying to increase the ratio to one nurse per four donors and that this would endanger donor safety.

‘Language Not Perfect’

Under this agreement, Red Cross retains the right to have a fourth donor positioned on a bed waiting to give blood. Many nurses said this could create problems because “waiting donors” occasionally become ill and need assistance.

“The language in the agreement is not perfect,” said Contreras, but she said it was adequate to ensure donor safety. “I voted ‘yes’ because the negotiating team said it was the best they could do,” said Vivian Arakai, a veteran registered nurse. “There might be a lot of grievances if they try to make us handle more than three people at a time,” she added.

“We think those side letters which are good faith agreements take care of the problem,” Red Cross spokeswoman Gerry Sohle said. She said the agency thought the new contract was “a good agreement. We’re very happy the strike is over.”

The nurses also said Red Cross agreed on a ratio of one nurse for each two donors whose blood platelets are separated out for special uses, such as the treatment of leukemia patients.

Contreras also said the nurses had secured good wage hikes, although not as much as they had been seeking. Under the new contract, licensed vocational nurses--who currently have top pay of $1,570 a month--will have their wages boosted to $1,726 a month, an increase of nearly 10%. That will increase to $1,821 on April 1, 1988, and $1,921 on April 1, 1989.

Registered Nurse Increases

Registered nurses, who previously had a top scale of $2,041 a month, will have that boosted immediately to $2,123 a month, an increase of about 4%. That will be raised to $2,208 a month in April, 1988, and $2,296 in April, 1989.

The pay gap between RNs and LVNs, which was $471 a month at the start of the strike, will be narrowed to $375 by the end of the contract. The nurses had maintained that the differential should be reduced because the two groups of nurses have substantially similar duties.

Head nurses, who are registered nurses and supervise the work of other nurses, previously had a top scale rate of $2,223 a month. That will be increased immediately to $2,388 a month and then jump to $2,484 a month in 1988 and $2,583 in 1989.

Contreras said that the nurses had also won “parenting leave” benefits and that Red Cross had agreed to give 48 hours’ notice--whenever possible--before reassigning a nurse from one facility to another.

Times staff writer Marcida Dodson contributed to this story.