UMC workers’ union takes contract petition to commissioners

Art Nadler

Wednesday, May 5, 1999 | 10:21 a.m.

The Nevada Service Employees Union on Tuesday presented the County Commission with a petition signed by nearly 2,000 people calling for University Medical Center to honor the union's contract demands.

The County Commission acts as the public hospital's board of trustees.

UMC employees have been working without a contract since July 1998. The union and management entered into mediation with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services in November.

The union's main concerns center on UMC wanting to "float" nurses between jobs and differences over on-call schedules.

Union representatives say nurses have raised concerns about not being trained for some jobs hospital administrators want them to perform. Nurses also say they are being called back to work too soon after completing their shifts.

"We already have to work up to 40 hours each week," said Shirley Hughes, a registered nurse who has been at UMC for more than 24 years. "Then we are being made, in some instances, to be at UMC's beck and call and have to return to the hospital within 30 minutes for another 40 hours ...

"How are we supposed to deliver safe patient care, if we are constantly working too many shifts for too many hours, and we are too tired?"

The hospital administration, in a written statement, defended its call-back policy, saying it is a common practice throughout the health care industry. It said floating is only done when a nurse's competency and skills are closely matched to certain jobs.

The County Commission remained neutral on the union's demands. But Commissioner Erin Kenny, who chairs the commission when it acts as the hospital board, said she wanted to "encourage dialogue and a speedy resolution."

Bill Hale, chief executive officer at UMC, told the board that he didn't think it was appropriate to comment on the union's demands because negotiations were continuing.

Kevin Collins, assistant executive director of the union, said several union members called members of the board and Hale on Friday and Monday to solicit their support. He said negotiations with the mediator will resume on Friday.

"We didn't come here (to the board meeting) to bargain with the commissioners," Collins said. "It was our intent to put some pressure on Bill Hale. We won't back off these issues. We feel they are fair for the patients and the workers."