THOUSAND OAKS : Nurses Stage 1-Day Strike at Kaiser Clinic

Nurses at Kaiser Permanente’s clinic in Thousand Oaks went on a one-day strike Monday, citing frustrations over the care of a patient they say is addicted to the prescription drug Demerol.

Six of the clinic’s seven licensed vocational nurses picketed on the sidewalk outside the clinic. The clinic’s two registered nurses are prohibited by contract from striking, but one appeared briefly on the sidewalk to show support for her colleagues.

The licensed vocational nurses’ union is also engaged in a protracted labor dispute with Kaiser Permanente in the Los Angeles area, negotiations for which continued Monday. Kaiser officials attributed the strike to an attempt by the union to draw attention to the ongoing contract negotiations.

Various departments at Kaiser’s Woodland Hills and Panorama City facilities also struck Monday over unsatisfactory handling of grievances and heavier workloads as the giant HMO reduces its work force. The departments’ employees all belong to the same union as the nurses in Thousand Oaks. The Thousand Oaks nurses said they chose this opportunity to strike because, with their contracts expired and new ones yet unwritten, they are not barred by the usual contractual agreement not to strike.

The local strike stemmed from a disagreement over the treatment of a woman who frequently receives medical care for migraines, said Linda Parks, one of the clinic’s licensed vocational nurses. The nurses said the woman--a former drug addict--has been coming to the clinic for over a year to receive shots of the powerful painkiller Demerol and to pick up prescriptions for various drugs. When the nurses balked at giving her Demerol injections, Parks said, the clinic’s head doctor insisted they should. The nurses then went on strike, she said.

Kaiser officials said the nurses’ actions were ethically inappropriate. “This decisively goes against medical ethics with regards to patient confidentiality,” said Pamela Spencer, Kaiser’s area director of public affairs.