Nurses’ Union, County Attempt to Avert Walkout Set for Today

Nurses’ representatives and county officials exchanged proposals Monday night in an attempt to avoid a strike that would severely reduce services at Los Angeles County’s six hospitals and 50 community health facilities.

Spokespersons for both sides told reporters that the health workers’ union and management were willing to offer new terms on a pay raise, the main issue in the dispute. Progress was reported on other concerns, with a compromise near on union demands that the county make a stronger commitment to end a shortage of nurses at the hospitals.

Facing the negotiators was a deadline of 5 a.m. today, the time when the nurses had voted to walk out. “The nurses are ready to strike, the picket signs are assembled,� a union representative said.

County officials said they had arranged to keep the hospitals going with supervisory personnel and with nurses who cross picket lines. They said they do not expect to be able to hire many outside nurses to fill in because such practitioners get paid 40% more by private hospitals than they would by the county.

In preparation for the strike, the county tried to reduce its patient load to a “manageable size� by discharging patients a day earlier than usual and canceling all elective surgery.

Supervisory nurses and doctors had been asked to work double and triple shifts to pick up the slack.

Transfers Planned

Women’s Hospital at County-USC Medical Center tried to refer more deliveries to other private hospitals and arrangements were being made to consolidate intensive care units and transfer outpatients when necessary.

The county planned to cancel outpatient clinics, close emergency rooms, and refuse transfers of indigent patients from private hospitals.

In emergency situations, the county can transfer a patient to a private hospital and pay full fare, but one official said it is “very costly.�

Involved in the dispute were about 4,000 county nurses represented by Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO.

Abby Haight, a union spokeswoman, said the nurses had agreed that in the event of a strike they would walk out at 5 a.m. today, a deadline that was set last week when 94% of about 500 nurses at a union meeting voted for the walkout.

“They’re trading proposals, whittling down language,� is how Haight described the bargaining sessions. She said she expected “all night bargaining.�

Both sides made new offers Monday through a mediator from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, who carried messages between union officials meeting in the basement of the County Hall of Administration and management negotiators on the fifth floor.

By Monday morning, the union had reduced slightly its pay demand from 21% to 20% over a two-year period. Bryan Sheppard, union research director, said the nurses were seeking a 6% raise retroactive to Oct. 1, 6% more Feb. 1, another 5 1/2% July 1 and 2 1/2% on Jan. 1, 1989.

He said that would cost the county $14 million over the two-year life of the contract.

Management, which had opened with an 11.5% increase over two years, fattened its offer Monday, making two proposals: 13% over two years or an 18% increase in exchange for a three-year contract.

Involved in the dispute were nurses working at County-USC Medical Center, Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the Rancho Los Amigos rehabilitation facility, the small county hospital at High Desert in the eastern part of the county and Olive View Hospital in the San Fernando Valley, as well as the small health clinics, which offer outpatient care to thousands.

Money and staffing levels, which the nurses say are too low, appeared to be the major stumbling block, although many small issues also were on the bargaining table.

Pay Gap Alleged

The nurses’ representatives insisted on retroactive pay and substantial increases early in the contract so county nurses could close what the union said is a substantial gap between county pay and the pay offered by private and county hospitals in other parts of the state.

For example, a public health nurse in Los Angeles County receives a maximum of $2,536 a month, compared to $2,907 paid by Alameda County.

The union also said that county salaries are “approximately 22% below industrywide highs for experienced nurses in Southern California.�

But county negotiator Elliot Marcus said: “It is unrealistic for the county to pay the industrywide high. . . . We have to be competitive, but we are not the top payer.�

The union said the county wages are making it difficult to recruit nurses, resulting in a shortage of help. Marcus replied that the county is offering larger raises to the nurses than other employees to improve recruiting.