UCI Nurses’ Sickout Over Stalled Talks Shuts Down Trauma Center

Nurses at UCI Medical Center, frustrated over stalled contract talks, staged a one-day sickout, shutting down the hospital’s trauma center for about 12 hours and delaying some non-emergency surgeries, hospital officials said Wednesday.

During the short-staffing of nurses Tuesday, Orange County paramedics were asked to take trauma cases to the county’s two other trauma centers, hospital spokeswoman Elaine Beno said. UCI’s emergency room remained open during the sickout, she said.

Because of the sickout, the hospital will require nurses who called in sick Tuesday and those who call in sick while contract talks continue to have a doctor verify their illness, Beno said. She said she was unsure how many nurses called in sick Tuesday but said the action was not endorsed by the California Nurses Assn., which represents some of the registered nurses at the hospital.

The statewide contract with registered nurses at the University of California’s teaching hospitals was set to expire at midnight Wednesday but was extended until Nov. 9 by an agreement between the university and the union.

The university’s chief negotiator, Gayle Cieszkiewicz, said that nurses are asking for a 12 1/2% pay increase, while the university has offered 7%. The contract impasse revolves mostly around pay and the employee benefit package, Cieszkiewicz said.

Registered nurses at all the UC hospitals earn between $2,584 and $6,108 a month, she said.

Officials of the California Nurses Assn. could not be reached for comment.