No. 9: Hospital workers voice concerns about workplace violence amid contracts talks

St. Joseph and Redwood Memorial hospital workers and management were vocally at odds with each other over the course of 2019.

In November, an estimated 500 hospital workers who are members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers planned a 24-hour strike amid stalled contract talks with the hospital’s management and administrators. The contract expired in April for NUHW members.

“The hospital has not been bargaining in good faith and (has) really sunken in its position to take away basic things like paid time off and has only offered 1.5 percent salary increases,” said thenNUHW union representative Renee Saucedo in midNovember. “The hospital, at this point, claims that they have some new proposals but their lawyers are refusing to meet with us until mid-December. We feel enough is enough.”

The hospital said it was offering the NUHW members a deal that mirrored what Southern California health care workers receive.

“The proposal features significant wage increases and a generous package of benefits, including the same paid time off (PTO), retirement and benefit options that NUHW-represented caregivers in Southern California

have accepted in their contracts,” the hospital said in a statement provided by spokesman Christian Hill.

Earlier in 2019, nurses voiced concerns about increasing acts of violence against health care workers. Two acts of violence in a 72-hour period in July, including one that left a nurse with a black eye, highlight the violence that health care staff are exposed to every day through their jobs, nurses said.

Nurses, who are part of the California Nurses Association, were also in contract talks with the hospital management. One provision nurses sought to add to their contracts were increased protections for violence against hospital staff.

“We want to make sure that we don’t just get a policy that sounds good today and isn’t followed,” said Lesley Ester, an RN at St. Joseph and a representative for the CNA, during a rally in July, “but we have strong contract language that all registered nurses can stand behind and know is their right to have.”

Both the CNA and the NUHW remain in contract negotiations, with CNA set to discuss its contract again Jan. 6-7 and NUHW will next convene with the hospital management for bargaining on Jan. 8, 2020.