UC Seeks Nurses in Event of Strike

A temporary nursing agency is seeking replacement nurses to work at University of California medical centers during a one-day strike next week, offering wages of $1,000 for a 12-hour shift plus up to $600 in travel expenses and “deluxe accommodations.”

The San Francisco firm, Healthcare Consulting & Staffing Services, is advertising on a Web site, www.scab.org, for nurses to “be a part of the largest strike ever staffed.”

If the 8,000 nurses of the UC system strike on May 29, as planned, such temporary replacements would earn about three times as much as the average clinical nurse at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, union officials said.

The wages raise questions about how high the costs will go if the strike is extended by the nurses union against UC’s five medical centers, including UCLA.

“The university should be figuring out how to use its available funds to make a decent offer to its nurses, not spend the money on folks to replace those nurses in the event of a strike,” said Joe Lindsay, chief negotiator for the California Nurses Assn., the union representing the nurses.

UC spokesman Paul Schwartz refused to discuss the deals between the public university and the temporary staffing agencies, or the amount of money involved. He said the information is not relevant to the contract dispute.

“As a responsible health-care provider, we are obligated to take steps to protect our patients, including making precautionary arrangements for temporary staff for the day of the strike,” Schwartz said in a written statement.

“Accordingly, UC has contracted with several staffing agencies to reserve temporary nursing personnel in the event we feel the strike threatens to compromise patient care...”

In the past week, the UC system has also said it would begin closing certain services, such as trauma care, in the days leading up to a strike. It could also transfer patients to other hospital systems.

If the strike settles at the last minute, the replacement nurses who arrive on site with proper documentation would receive no less than $500, according to the Web site of Healthcare Consulting & Staffing Services. The firm is also paying a “referral bonus” of $200 for nurses not in the database.

A representative answering the phone at the nursing agency on Monday declined to comment. The company recently provided replacements for nurses who went on strike at Oregon Health & Science University.

Officials at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland said they spent $600,000 per week for replacement nurses’ wages, plus $200,000 per week for incidentals such as housing, licensing and travel. The state university hospital used 800 temporary nurses throughout a 56-day strike, with 300 to 400 working at any given time.

Negotiators for UC and the nurses union remain divided on several issues as they try to replace a contract that expired April 30. Union members voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to authorize a strike.

On Monday, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Culver City), Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) and more than 40 members of the Legislature signed a letter to the UC administration calling on them to resolve the dispute with the nurses.

Bustamante and Wesson are UC regents.

The nurses union wants UC to abandon its merit-pay plan and adopt a system of raises based solely upon years of service.

The nurses also want the hospitals to prohibit mandatory overtime and minimum ratios of nurses to patients.

UC officials said the merit system appropriately rewards high-quality care and is supported by many nurses. In addition, officials said they have offered limits to mandatory overtime and have agreed to abide by nurse-to-patient ratios once they have been finalized by state regulators.