Nurses Strike in Fresno

Nurses Strike in Fresno
By Mike Rhodes
December 23, 2004

Nurses from University Medical Center (UMC) were on strike today. The one day strike was called by nurses who are members of the California Nurses Association (CNA) to pressure management to bargain in good faith. The company is offering a 2% salary increase and the nurses want at least 5%. A standardized pay scale and an improved pension plan are also being sought by striking workers.

Don Nielsen, CNA director of arbitration in the Central Valley and the lead negotiator at UMC, said "this strike is about fairness and getting justice for the nurses that work at UMC.." Nurses at UMC have been working without a contract for seven years. Nielsen says that "when Fresno County privatized the hospital in 1996 all of the nurses were told to re-apply for their jobs. That is when the new owner, Community Hospital, refused to recognize the union." CNA filed unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board and fought for seven years for recognition. The NLRB ruled in favor of the nurses and their right to be represented by CNA.

Registered Nurse Vi Valdez, who has worked at UMC since 1975 was one of the nurses forced to re-apply for her own job. Valdez says "nurses at UMC are underpaid and that there is a high turnover rate." She said that five nurses on the fourth floor just quit because of low wages and disrespectful managers. Many of the workers on the fourth floor are foreign born workers with work permits. Nielsen said that the manager on that floor has threatened those workers with deportation if they supported the union.

Community Hospital CEO Philip Hinton visited Valdez’s floor recently. He asked her how things were going and she complained about wages. Hinton offered that he has gone without a pay increase for the last 3 years. Valdez replied that "if I made $490,000 a year I wouldn’t mind going without a raise this year either."

RN’s being hired today are receiving the same salary as an RN who has worked at UMC for eight years. The employees walking the picket line in the bitter cold today are fed up. They want a contract that provides a fair and equitable salary, a pension they can retire on, and dignity and respect on the job.

Community Hospital’s response has been to bring in a union busting firm and replacement workers. The replacement workers were driven across picket lines in a bus this morning. Nielsen says they "are from out of state and are being paid for three days work, even though this is a one day strike." Several nurses I spoke with were angry that the company can find the money to pay for these strikebreakers but plead poverty at the bargaining table.

At a Noon time rally, nurses and their allies, heard that they were not alone. Leslie Hawkins, a nurse from Kaiser, which is the only other unionized hospital in Fresno, told the UMC workers that they supported their struggle. Speakers from Memorial Hospital in Long Beach, CNA president Debra Berger, and a hospital worker from Sacramento came to express their solidarity and support.

Community Hospital is a non profit institution with a local board of directors. It is also the largest private employer in Fresno County with three hospitals in the area. The problems at UMC began when Fresno County decided to privatize health services in the mid-90's by selling Valley Medical Center to Community Hospital. There was massive public opposition to the plan, but Fresno County Supervisors were able to complete the privatization plan and give a $35 million a year bailout to Community Hospital. CNA representative Nielsen says that this amounts to a "public bailout for private gain."

Valdez says "support for the strike is strong throughout the hospital and that the workers will do what it takes to win this contract." Today’s strike was the second strike in a month. For more information see the report on the earlier strike here: http://sfbay.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/1706939.php

For more information about the California Nurses Association, go here: http://www.calnurse.org/

For information about Community Hospital, go here: http://www.communitymedical.org/