How politicians resolved impasse

J. Patrick Coolican and Tony Cook

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006 | 7:10 a.m.

Before David Bussone, group director of Valley Health System, met with Nevada elected leaders Tuesday to discuss his company's contract dispute with 800 nurses, he brashly announced that he expected little to come of the talks.

But after the doors closed on the sixth floor of the county administration building, Bussone got a stiff verbal finger in the chest and a crash course in politics. Soon, he was in hasty retreat.

After several hours of negotiations, the two sides agreed - at least temporarily - to send nurses back to work and are again talking through a federal mediator.

It was quite a turnaround for the company, which had backed itself - apparently unwittingly and unknowingly - into a public relations corner, engaged in a battle with a profession widely admired by the public.

First, Valley Health, whose parent company is the Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services, had taken a public position that appeared at odds with nurses' calls for improved staffing levels to enhance patient care.

Also, Bussone had used the artless term "baloney" to describe the notion that the lockout was creating a public health crisis.

And finally, when Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons, Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley and Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid last weekend publicly offered a 30-day "cooling off" period to avert a strike or lockout, the company declined.

Then came Tuesday's startling reversal behind closed doors. How it happened says much about Valley Health, the nurses union and the elected officials.

Gibbons began the meeting by asking Bussone and an attorney to consider the community's well-being, and he told them they had a public relations problem.

But that was it for niceties.

The usually soft-spoken Reid then yelled his displeasure, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

"Rory Reid was the angriest of the group," said Buckley, who will be the next speaker of the Nevada Assembly. "He was upset and led the charge to express the group's displeasure."

The discussion continued for an hour and 15 minutes before the elected officials sent Bussone and the company's lawyer to another room, with instructions to sketch out what they required to return to negotiations with the nurses.

The company wanted a 90-day no-strike guarantee from the union.

Jane McAlevey, executive director of the Service Employees International Union Local 1107, which represents the nurses, counteroffered with 30 days.

The two sides eventually split the difference.

But at that point, three sticking points remained: When would the nurses go back to work? How would members be protected from retaliation? When would they get paid again?

As the session continued, a pattern emerged. The elected officials went to Reid's office to call the union, then returned to talk to the company officials in person. When the public officials worried that the media would see them, they used Buckley's cell phone, eventually worrying that the battery would die.

The three officials were joined by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and some staff, and each played a role in the negotiations.

As the next governor, Gibbons gave the delegation heft, and as a Republican, the company could be sure he's no friend of organized labor. He made the point explicitly that he wouldn't be used by the SEIU, said a source familiar with the negotiations.

Gibbons also proposed the idea that if 30 days of federal mediation failed, a distinguished Nevadan be appointed to mediate during another 30 days.

Reid played tough negotiator and made it clear to Bussone that leaving without an agreement wasn't an option.

Buckley, meanwhile, solved many of the negotiating problems. "When there were problems, she was able to find solutions," a source said.

In an interview Wednesday, Bussone said he was impressed but also taken aback at the politicians' interest in the dispute. "They're four very persistent individuals," he said. "It was obvious to me they were very sincere in their effort, very interested in getting folks back to the table. They helped make it happen."

In the end, Bussone made the right move, even if a day or two late, Nevada political observers said.

"Somebody made a wise decision," said Billy Vassiliadis, chief executive of R&R Partners, an advertising and public affairs firm. "It's got to be hard to look at the governor face to face and say 'no.' I've personally never done it."

Vassiliadis called the company's earlier decision to decline the officials' request "mind-boggling" and ticked off a few of the potential legislative consequences of irritating the next governor or Assembly speaker. Those included the possibility of a new law mandating nurse-to-patient ratios, an issue at the center of the contract dispute.

Moreover, looming in the background are Rep. Shelley Berkley, who sent a letter to the corporation, and Reid's father, Sen. Harry Reid, the next U.S. Senate majority leader. The elder Reid released a statement Monday that was subtle but unmistakable in its meaning, applauding the company for reconsidering the offer of mediation from the elected officials - even though there is no evidence the company reconsidered until Tuesday.

Valley Health wasn't the only party with a political stake, however. The SEIU is trying to broaden its reach in Southern Nevada.

The union is known as aggressive and skilled in confrontation and public relations, said Richard Hurd, a labor expert at Cornell University. Only two of Valley Health's four area hospitals are unionized. Another hospital will open in 2007.

Bussone said in the interview that he would prefer no union nurses at the new hospital. The SEIU clearly wants the opposite.

The elected officials also had much at stake. Buckley is riding a wave of good publicity related to her role as the state's first woman speaker of the Assembly. Now that the election is over, and with Democrats coming up short in several top races, Reid is an important spokesman on many issues and a potential candidate for higher office. He took advantage of the opportunity on the nursing issue.

Buckley called Gibbons last week and asked him to join her and Reid in their attempt to stave off a strike or lockout. Gibbons said yes immediately, and he's surely not regretting it. He didn't receive a majority of the vote in the election, and some of his early staffing decisions have been panned by political insiders.

Tuesday offered a welcome burst of good publicity. Greg Ferraro, a senior adviser, was quick to credit the governor-elect, while also giving credit to Buckley: "He showed a critical understanding of a Southern Nevada issue, which is important, and he demonstrated a bipartisan problem-solving ability and showed a leadership quality."

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