Local News in Brief : Nurse Union Now ‘Neutral’
Negotiators for Los Angeles County’s registered nurses announced late Tuesday they will send a final contract proposal to the membership without a recommendation, after they had voted rejection of the plan over the weekend.
“It was a switch to a neutral position,” said Abby Haight, a spokeswoman for Local 660 of the Services Employees International Union, which represents about 4,000 county nurses, who are scheduled to vote on the proposal Thursday.
“The committee assessed the current political situation. Three members of the county Board of Supervisors are strongly opposed to quality patient care, and we decided to let the nurses make their own judgment,” she added.
“The problem with the offer is that it’s not competitive with the private sector at all,” Haight said. “We will be losing an awful lot of nurses.”
She said Supervisors Deane Dana, Peter Schabarum and Mike Antonovich were the trio that the union contends favor keeping county pay below what’s offered in private hospitals.
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