County nurses OK strike, citing low wages

Union says salaries are 10% lower than those at regional hospitals

Nurses for Santa Clara County have authorized their union leadership to call a future strike, citing low wages that fail to compete with those paid at nearby regional hospitals.

The Registered Nurses Professional Association represents 3,000 nurses at county clinics, jail facilities, Valley Medical Center, Saint Louise Hospital and O’Connor Hospital. About 65% of the union’s members cast a vote, and of those, 94% favored authorizing a strike.

The strike authorization comes days after Service Employees International Union local 521, representing 12,000 county employees, walked away from confidential mediation talks with county negotiators.

The county is in contract talks with all three of its unions.

County nurses earn

10% less than the average salaries at regional hospitals like Good Samaritan, Stanford, El

Camino and Kaiser, contributing to steady attrition issues as nurses leave for other hospitals, according to representatives for the union.

“We live in the most expensive region in the nation, and if you could get 20 dollars more an hour, why wouldn’t you?” said Michael Benipayo, a clinical nurse and vice president of the union.

“And so the only solution we see, to stop the bleeding, is wages so they don’t have to leave for private hospitals.”

Despite the strike authorization, County CEO Jeff Smith was optimistic about negotiations, noting the union initiated the vote before the county presented its current offer.

“I think we have a pretty positive offer on the table … which the bargaining team is looking at positively,” Smith said, adding that the talks are “not even close to” reaching an impasse.

The county’s offer includes a 20% raise over five years, or 7% in the first year of the contract, 4% in the second, and 3% each year after.

It also increases rates for special compensation, such as hazard, night shift and bilingual pay.

Allan Kamara, a nurse and union vice president, said more than 500 nurses authorized the strike even after the seeing the county’s latest proposal on Dec. 19.

“The ball is in the county’s court now,” Kamara said.

In addition to wage increases, nurses

“We live in the most expensive region in the nation, and if you could get 20 dollars more an hour, why wouldn’t you?” — Michael Benipayo, clinical nurse and vice president of the nurses union

want more flexible vacation and compensated time policies.

Because the county is short-staffed, many employees have had to work overtime and are burned out and frustrated by vacation denials, Kamara said.

He also pointed to staffing issues at the county’s

two newest hospitals, O’Connor in San Jose and Saint Louise in Gilroy, previously private hospitals that the county bought this year.

More than half the staff at those two hospitals are visiting contract nurses — known as travelers — who typically stay for up to six weeks at a time, Kamara said.

“That puts an overwhelming burden on regular staff, because they’re

constantly training new travelers,” he added.

Smith disagreed with Kamara’s assessment — saying the number of contract nurses is not that high, although there are “quite a few” — and attributed the issue to understaffing at the hospitals before the county purchased them, not attrition.

“We are hiring into new positions, but it will take a while to catch up,” Smith said.