USC Verdugo Hills Hospital nurses agree to new contract

An overwhelming majority of the 150 nurses at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital voted to approve a 14-month contract, a representative from the California Nurses Assn. said on Thursday, culminating a year of negotiations with hospital officials and administrators of USC’s Keck Medicine.

If ratified, the contract will be the first one signed by the facility’s nurses, who unionized last March.

Dinorah Williams, a representative from the state union, said many of the issues brought up by the nurses were included in the new agreement, which she called a good first step in bringing the hospital, acquired by USC in July 2013, up to the standards of the university’s other medical facilities.

“The [collective bargaining agreement] includes patient-care protections that we have won at the two other USC hospitals and the economic improvement needed to help recruit and retain nurses at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital,” she wrote in an email earlier this week.

Matt McElrath, chief human resources officer of Keck Medicine of USC, said in a statement Thursday that administrators expected a positive outcome and were prepared to sign the contract.

“We are pleased with the outcome and believe it is an agreement that is beneficial to both sides,” he said. “Our focus is and continues to be on delivering exceptional care and service to our patients and those we serve in the Foothill community.”

Last month, nurses at the facility voted to authorize the union to take action, up to and including a strike, if concerns about what they called “deplorable conditions” and a “mass exodus” of qualified staff at the Glendale facility were not addressed in an adequate and timely manner.

The new contract is patterned after one being implemented at USC’s Keck Hospital and Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, according to a CNA statement issued on Thursday.

It calls for the establishment of a Professional Practice Committee to address patient-care issues, as well as staffing protections that hold administrators accountable for filling openings with full-time nurses, as opposed to “travelers” affiliated with temporary agencies.

The agreement also promises wage increases of up to 14% in the next 15 months and offers paid educational leave for professional development courses, according to the statement.

“This new agreement leaves us in a much stronger position to retain the experienced nurses our community deserves,” said Erica Beltran, medical/surgical department nurse, in the statement. “We’re so proud to have fought for a contract that best supports our ability to care for patients.”

The new contract would take effect through Dec. 31, 2016.