VENTURA : Nurses Seek Board’s Help in Pay Dispute

About 65 nurses at the Ventura County Medical Center appealed to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to break an impasse over pay that they said threatens to disrupt patient care.

The county has announced that it will eliminate 12-hour nursing shifts beginning Monday, a move that would mean a 4% pay cut for about 115 of the hospital’s 350 nurses, a spokesman for the nurses union said.

The nurses, many of whom originally were asked to work the long shifts because of a labor shortage three years ago, told the supervisors that they would not accept the reduction in pay.

Under the hospital’s proposal, the nurses would receive an increase in their hourly wage from $16.86 to $18.73. However, they now average $19.67 an hour when overtime is figured in. In addition, instead of working three 12-hour shifts, they would work five eight-hour shifts.

“After standing by the hospital through thick and dark times . . . we will not swallow our pride,” said Judith Overmyer, an intensive care nurse who has worked 12-hour shifts for two years.

The nurses are now paid overtime for the last four hours of each shift, they said.

Elimination of the overtime will create a financial burden, they said, because they have planned their mortgages and household budgets around the higher wage for years.

“Now we are told there are an abundance of nurses,” said Patricia Knight, president of the nurses chapter of the Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County. “And we asked not to be pushed backwards.”

Nurses said they will picket the hospital today and Thursday. Barry Hammitt, executive director of the employees union, said he is scheduled to meet with hospital administrators Friday morning to try to work out a settlement.

“I hope we all can come to some kind of an agreement,” said Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Maggie Erickson Kildee.

If none is reached, many of the nurses may not show up for work as scheduled, Hammitt said.

“I wouldn’t characterize it as a strike,” he said. “They may just not be available. A lot of them are part-time nurses and don’t have a regular schedule they have to meet. And many of them are angry enough now that they might not want to work for this chicken outfit.”