The University of California has filed charges against a nurses’ union, alleging the union was using unfair negotiating tactics during ongoing contract bargaining sessions.
After the UC and California Nurses Association were unable to agree on three points during contract negotiations last year, both parties agreed to a special negotiation session that would allow them to sign a new contract in December of 2005 and begin negotiations in April.
The union and the university agreed to continue negotiating wages, health benefits and retiree health plans, as well as a system for improving meal and break periods for employees.
The charges filed against the union outline two complaints: that the union tried to negotiate staffing issues, which were not open for negotiation in the special session; and that the union came to the bargaining table not with the intention of collaborating to reach an agreement, but with the intention of expediting the bargaining process to the point where they could legally strike, said Paul Schwartz, a UC spokesman.
Starting April 15, the UC and the nurses’ union began the special negotiations, called a re-opener bargaining session, but the negotiations turned south after the union and the university began to disagree on what elements of the contract they could talk about.
The union wants to continue to discuss staffing issues, saying that they are vital to the other negotiations, but the UC calls this bad-faith bargaining.
In response, the university filed charges with the Public Employment Relations Board against the California Nurses Association, which represents over 8,500 registered nurses throughout the UC system. The charges will be investigated, and a formal complaint may be issued to the union.
Currently, the union and the UC are in the second phase of the re-opener bargaining process, where a state-appointed mediator helps the two parties reach a non-binding agreement. If the mediator cannot help, a three-person panel is appointed to look at evidence and try to reach an agreement.
The nurses’ union argues that because of low staffing, nurses are unable to legally take necessary breaks.
“What we agreed to do is open up bargaining issues on meals and breaks, but these issues are all very interrelated with staffing issues. Everything in the contract involves staffing, and (the charges filed by the UC) represent a good-faith difference of opinion,” said Beth Kean, director of the UC Division of the California Nurses Association.
The union says that nurses have difficulty taking breaks because another nurse must take legal responsibility for the patients of a nurse who is off duty, said Manny Punzalan, a UCLA nurse on the union bargaining team.
The union also argues that the UC is proposing wages that are well below what nurses make at competing hospitals – sometimes $4 to $10 less per hour, Punzalan said.
But the university maintains that its wage proposals are market value.
“We want an agreement as soon as possible. We feel that we have presented fair proposals that include competitive wages and benefits,” Schwartz said.