Hospital Rebuffs Nurses’ Request for Union Recognition

A group of registered nurses at Los Robles Regional Medical Center who have joined a statewide union were rebuffed by hospital management Wednesday when the nurses asked for union recognition.

Armed with a letter, union President Lesley Whitehouse went to acting chief administrator Ken Underwood’s office and asked that he recognize American Federation of Nurses, Local 535, as the nurses’ exclusive bargaining agent.

Cuts in hours and benefits, discrepancies in the pay scale and lack of communication between management and staff members prompted the move toward collective action, Whitehouse said.

But Underwood refused the letter, and told the nurses he would meet with them on an individual basis only.

“What the nurse told me is that she had a letter saying she represented a majority of nurses in the hospital,” Underwood said. “Basically I truly believe that they or the union do not represent an uncoerced majority of the nurses.”

Whitehouse, who has worked in the emergency room at Los Robles for 12 years, said more than 60% of the nurses on staff are paying dues and carrying union identification cards. The group held elections in July.

“I have not coerced anyone,” she said. “We tell people, if you are really anti-union, tell us. You can come to us if you are interested. That is our philosophy.” In the letter to Underwood, organizer Jim Moreau suggested a union card count by a neutral party to verify the numbers.

Since Underwood did not accept the letter, Moreau said the group will canvass its members before taking the next step in the unionizing process, applying to the National Labor Relations Board for recognition. The group had hoped to avoid calling in the national board to settle its dispute, organizers said, so costs and conflict between administrators could be kept to a minimum.

“We don’t want to damage the hospital,” chief shop steward Brenda Perry said. “We’re proud of our work and we’re proud of what we do.”

None of the Thousand Oaks hospital’s roughly 1,000 employees are now represented by a union. About 300 staff members are registered nurses, according to Underwood. During Los Robles’ 26-year history, no unions have been formed, though nurses said they remember unsuccessful attempts more than a decade ago.

“The hospital is not anti-union,” said Underwood, who took charge when former chief administrator Bob Quist was ousted last month. “We recognize the right of everyone to join a union. But I personally do not feel that dealing with an outside group is beneficial to any of the employees.”

Attempts to organize began in February after a cut in benefits, Whitehouse said. In May, the group presented a letter to Quist stating some of the members’ concerns and asking him to schedule a meeting with labor representatives. Quist never responded.

The reductions in benefits included reducing overtime wages and cutting three days from annual vacation time and from sick leave, the nurses said.

Earlier this week, Whitehouse said she received notification that another benefit would be reduced. Because she does not take the hospital’s health care insurance plan, choosing to use her husband’s carrier instead, she has been receiving $53 per paycheck toward her retirement fund. But effective Jan. 1, that figure will drop to $19 per week, she said.

Underwood said he stands by the hospital’s benefits package.

“I’d put our wage and salary benefit package up against any other hospital in the area,” Underwood said. “From Santa Barbara to Tarzana.”

But nurses cite other policy changes that have affected paychecks.

For instance, some 12-hour shifts have been reduced to eight-hour days, cutting down on overtime pay for nurses. In 1993, a $2 hourly differential for nurses who worked weekend shifts was cut, nurses said.

“I don’t know of any hospital in the area that has a weekend differential,” Underwood said.

The nurses also say the pay scale is confusing and discriminates against longtime employees.

“You can have a new nurse come in and she’ll be making $2 more an hour than you,” said Perry, who has been at Los Robles nearly 13 years. “It’s very upsetting.”

Organizers said some nurses have become disenchanted with the atmosphere at Los Robles in recent months and left, leaving the hospital understaffed and affecting the quality of patient care.

“We don’t have enough nurses to take care of the patients,” Whitehouse said. “We just had one patient who needed a CCU (critical care unit) bed sit in the emergency room for six hours because we didn’t have the staff. It’s just been getting worse.”

But Underwood defended the hospital staffing standards, saying that in three unscheduled random visits by the California Department of Health Services in 1994 the hospital received the highest marks.

“We met 100% of their staffing standards,” he said, adding that he expects no disruption in patient care due to the unionizing effort.