Nurses Polled on Contract Offer; Union Leadership Is Neutral

The union representing more than 4,000 Los Angeles County nurses began polling members Wednesday on whether to accept the county’s latest contract proposal. Union leaders declined to either endorse the package or recommend its defeat.

“The bargaining committee is not satisfied with the (salary) package, but we are going to leave it to the nurses to make the decision,” said Abby Haight, a spokeswoman for Local 660 of the Service International Employees Union, AFL-CIO.

“Even though the offer is not at all competitive, we understand that the current Board of Supervisors is not going to offer an improved package,” added Haight, who said the ratification ballot contains no recommendation from union negotiators.

County nurses, who staged a three-day walkout last month until a Superior Court judge ordered them back to work, are expected to return their mail ballots over the next two weeks.

The nurses will be voting on a proposal submitted to both county officials and the union last weekend by a state mediator who stepped into the protracted contract talks.

The nurses, whose contract expired Oct. 1, will consider an offer to increase their wages by 14.5% over the next two years--an offer similar to what the county had proposed and short of the 19.5% increase that the nurses had been seeking.

The latest offer, however, speeds up the rate at which the salary increase would be paid and includes a provision for monthly “retention bonuses” designed to keep county nurses from taking new jobs in private hospitals.

‘Equitable Compromise’

County officials have embraced the proposal and said they will submit it to supervisors for ratification if the nurses approve the offer.

“We feel that it is clearly an equitable compromise between the county’s position and the nurses’ position. I think it’s an excellent proposal,” said Jim Ellman, the county’s chief negotiator.

If the mediator’s proposal is adopted, experienced senior nurses would receive an immediate 7.5% salary increase, raising their monthly pay from $2,451 to $2,746, Ellman said. Part of that pay includes an increase in the monthly retention bonuses--from $90 to $110--for nurses who have been with the county for more than five years, he said.

The nurses’ union has scheduled two meetings today at downtown Patriotic Hall to allow members to review the contract proposal. And Haight said the decision to call for a ratification vote came only after bargainers became convinced that supervisors were adamantly opposed to changing the county offer.

Work to Oust Supervisors

She added that regardless of the outcome of the ratification vote, many nurses are now angry enough to work against the reelection campaigns of two supervisors, Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana, who face reelection in June.

“We have nurses who have indicated that they are willing to walk precincts, work on phone banks and work for candidates who support a quality health care system,” Haight said.

Local 660 has yet to formally endorse any candidates this year, but the union opposed both Dana and Antonovich in elections four years ago. Kenneth Hahn, the third county supervisor who is up for reelection, has enjoyed the union’s support in the past and strongly backed the nurses during their walkout.

The nurses were forced to return to work when a judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt the strike. A court hearing on the restraining order is scheduled Feb. 18. Haight said that if the order is lifted and nurses turn down the contract offer, the walkout could resume.