Union, hospital return to table but neither side caving

Marshall Allen and Michael J. Mishak

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007 | 7:02 a.m.

A new mediator will guide talks for the next 30 days between a nurses union and Valley Health System, and both sides say for the record that they're hoping for a resolution.

But statements by both sides Wednesday suggest that despite their official optimism, they are still clinging to the positions that led to a breakdown of negotiations and a lockout a month ago.

The Service Employees International Union Local 1107 disclosed Wednesday that as mediation goes forward, it is taking steps to bring public pressure, even embarrassment, upon the hospital system and to give elected officials leverage they can apply to the hospital company.

Jane McAlevey, executive director of union's local chapter, said scheduled actions include a rally at UNLV with nurses from 40 states. The rally is scheduled for Jan. 20, with about out-of-state 100 nurses joining local SEIU nurses for a forum on staffing and quality care at UNLV.

"We're going to shine a national spotlight on Nevada," McAlevey said, making it clear the picture would not be flattering. Southern Nevada's health care, due in large part to the state's unusually strong reliance on for-profit hospitals, is among the worst in the nation, she said.

The union says that on Sunday night at Valley Hospital Medical Center, nurses were forced to work mandatory overtime. The hospital continued to admit patients even though staffing levels were dangerously low, McAlevey said.

The union is compiling examples of such alleged wrongdoing. It plans to give the examples to state officials, who could use the possibility of an investigation to pressure Valley Health to settle.

David Bussone, group leader of the Valley Health System, said the union's actions show that it isn't negotiating in good faith.

"It makes it very difficult to try and conduct legitimate negotiations when they feel their strongest method of negotiating is in the public rather than the negotiating room," Bussone said.

Valley Health System includes four hospitals. The SEIU represents the nurses and technicians at Valley Hospital and Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center. They started negotiations a year ago, and things grew more contentious until the union voted to strike starting Dec. 4.

A day after the work stoppage, elected officials pressured the two parties to agree to a 60-day "cooling-off" period. Since then McAlevey said things at the two hospitals are worse for nurses and technicians. Security fences erected for the proposed strike have remained, and the work environment is more hostile, McAlevey said.

"In the first few days of the cooling-off period at least 60 complaints were filed with the National Labor Relations Board" for harassment and intimidation, McAlevey said.

Hospital officials dismiss such complaints as attention-getting tactics.

Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid said he's not surprised nothing was accomplished with a federal mediator in the first 30 days. Reid is more hopeful about the new mediator, Philip Satre, former chairman of Harrah's Entertainment.

"He's going to make them sit down and deal with each other," Reid said.

It's vital the two sides work harder at an agreement, Reid said, because the conflict involves the entire community.

"It's not just about the nurses and the hospitals, it's about our health care delivery system, which is already stressed," Reid said.

Hospital staff ratios are one area where the union is hedging its bet. McAlevey said the union prefers to reach agreements on staffing ratios through bargaining agreements, not by state laws similar to those in California.

Yet as the mediation enters its final 30 days, the union is pushing the state Legislature to adopt just such a law, which would apply only to those hospitals that have not resolved the staffing issues through contracts. The law's supporters include Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas.

Valley Health officials say Nevada doesn't have the nursing resources to support rigid ratios, and that such regulations in California have caused hospitals to close.

The union counters that multiple studies show increased ratios lead to superior patient care.

Another union-backed measure, sponsored by Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, would protect nurses against injuries caused by lifting heavy patients. Valley Health officials said adequate procedures are already in place to ensure employees are safe when lifting patients.

A third bill, to be introduced by Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, would ban entities that receive public funds, including hospitals, from "assisting, promoting or deterring certain union activities."

"We're giving the industry a chance to work it out contractually," McAlevey said. "But the (bills) would be one heck of a package toward improving Nevada hospitals and patient care." The union's other hope lies in the National Labor Relations Board, which has scheduled hearings for nine complaints filed by SEIU members at the two hospitals, representing about 130 unfair labor practice charges.

"We're going to take advantage of every possible avenue we can until things change," McAlevey said.