Nurses Ask Board for Higher Salaries

In a plea for higher salaries and better working conditions, about a dozen nurses told Ventura County supervisors Tuesday that many of their underpaid colleagues must take second jobs to make ends meet.

The nurses--along with 250 co-workers--are represented by the California Nurses Assn., which has reached an impasse with the county in talks over pay and allegations of unsafe staffing practices, such as having intensive-care nurses work in the pediatric unit without training.

“We have a problem that needs to be addressed now,” said Cindie Cole, an emergency room nurse at Ventura County Medical Center for 14 years.

“Our salaries are not comparable nor competitive in the county, nor in the two surrounding counties.”

Cole, a member of the union’s contract negotiating team, said public health nurses at the county hospital make from $16.22 to $24.78 an hour, while counterparts in Santa Barbara County earn from $20 to $36.22.

And nurses in Los Angeles County earn between $20.85 and $28.85 an hour.

“We save lives everyday,” Cole told supervisors.

“We put our lives at risk everyday. Show us the respect you show the agencies that are predominately male.”

Supervisors don’t routinely respond to statements made during the public comments portion of their meeting.

But Jane Mahnken, the county’s chief negotiator, has said she was optimistic that each of three outstanding union contracts would soon be resolved.