LAS VEGAS: Hundreds of nurses were turned away
on Monday when they reported for work at two hospitals as management
began what officials say will be at least a five-day lockout over
failed contract negotiations.
Temporary nurses were brought in to cover shifts and the hospitals
were functioning normally, said Steve Filton, chief financial
officer for United Health Services Inc., the conglomerate based
in King of Prussia, Pa., that owns Valley and Desert Springs Hospital
in the urban core of Las Vegas.
The Service Employees International Union, which represents the
nurses, had called for a strike to start Monday but said Sunday
that it would stand down as Gov.-elect James Gibbons and other
state leaders asked the two sides to submit to new mediated talks
after a 30-day cooling-off period. United Health Services rejected
Mr. Gibbons's offer and instead enacted its strike contingency
plan in the form of a lockout.
That plan involved flying in and housing hundreds of nurses
hired from the U.S. Nursing Corporation, based in Denver, which
supplies nurses to hospitals involved in labor disputes.
"We have this commitment to the temporary nurses, and we’re
going to uphold that," Mr. Filton said. He said of the locked-out
nurses "We have told them they can come back on Saturday,
absent any further threat of strike action in the foreseeable
future."
At issue is staffing levels, which the chief union negotiator,
Jane McAlevey, said were well below the national average. Eight
months of talks have failed to persuade United Health Services
to include staffing increases in the new contract. Mr. Filton
said that such issues should not be addressed in contracts and
that the hospitals’ staffing met regulatory requirements.
Neither side would say how many nurses were locked out, in
part because United Health Services was allowing nurses who
told them that they were not going to strike to work. The two
hospitals have a total of about 700 beds. Ms. McAlevey called
the lockout "selective and illegal," and the union
filed a complaint on Monday to that effect with the National
Labor Relations Board.
Though Mr. Filton insisted that the quality of health care
was not suffering, a locked-out nurse, April Marsh, disagreed.
"The temporary nurses don’t know the system, they don't
know where the supplies are, maybe they’re working in specialties
they’re not familiar with," Ms. Marsh said. "I imagine
it’s not very safe in there."
