In Business Las Vegas, November 24th, 2006
After a half-year of fruitless contract talks, the Service Employees International Union threatened a long-term strike of Valley and Desert Springs hospitals starting Dec. 4.
The threat worked. Hospital officials have agreed to return to the bargaining table for three days, Nov. 27-29.
It would be the first strike of hospital workers in Las Vegas, but the nurses say they’re ready. SEIU Local 1107 has $1 million from its national office to pay workers in full while they strike.
“It might (affect patient care), but we are trying to get the end result,” said Benilda T. Galan, a nurse at Valley Hospital. “We are hoping for the best. Sometimes bad things have to happen for good things to come.”
Both hospitals are a part of the Valley Health System, the local group that also includes non-unionized Summerlin and Spring Valley Hospitals. It is owned by hospital operator Universal Health Services, based in Pennsylvania.
“We believe that the announcement is unfortunate because strikes are costly and detrimental to all involved,” said a statement issued by Valley Health representatives. The hospital group has a contingency plan, it said.
Desert Springs and Valley are the last for-profit hospitals in the Las Vegas Valley to remain in contract negotiations with SEIU Local 1107. University Medical Center, run by Clark County, is still in negotiations but will not be subject to a strike because talks are progressing there, union officials said.
The nasty dispute between VHS and the SEIU has ramped up since a Sunrise Hospital contract was settled on Oct.25.
The dispute has simmered for a long time. For months, the sides have been slinging complaints against each other through the National Labor Relations Board.
Public protests have been staged, mostly by the union, since the weather started cooling down.
On Nov. 16, the SEIU staged a candlelight vigil in front of Desert Springs Hospital to draw attention to its concerns, namely, a demand to improve nurse staffing. Two days later, union members at those hospitals held a vote on management’s latest contract offer.
In the election, 98 percent of voters rejected the contract, and 95 percent authorized the strike.
“There was basically nothing (in the contract),” said Galan, who like most union members has sat in negotiating sessions. “There was no counter proposal and hardly any changes.”
VHS said it “has made significant economic and non-economic offers that would place our registered nurses among the most highly compensated in the area.”
The parties remain far apart, VHS said. “The union is seeking higher wages and monetary premiums than it agreed to at other facilities, and has other proposals on the table to which we simply cannot agree.”
Both Galan and Josephine Brown, a Desert Springs nurse, said they looked at their individual wage changes, but they would not reveal the amounts.
“At this point money is not the issue, it’s all about patient care and the standards that Las Vegas nurses need to set,” Brown said. “Safe patient care means (mandated) nurse-patient ratios. We’ve been negotiating in good faith to raise health care standards for our communities.”
VHS also says it has bargained in good faith. The parties met for all-day sessions on Nov. 16 and 17, but they could not reach an agreement.
If a contract is not reached by Dec. 4, the strike will begin at 7 a.m. that Monday morning, the union said. It will include three bargaining units: nurses at Desert Springs, nurses at Valley and technical workers at Desert Springs.
