Thousand Oaks hospital nurses authorize strike if deal isn't reached

Nurses and other health care professionals at Los Robles Regional Medical Center have authorized a strike they say could be launched if the hospital does not take steps to hire and retain more staff.

Members of SEIU Local 121RN, which represents about 800 workers at Los Robles in Thousand Oaks, voted in mid-October to allow the union’s bargaining team to call for a strike if an agreement isn’t reached in ongoing negotiations for a new three-year contract.

Union nurses at West Hills Hospital & Medical Center in Los Angeles County and Riverside Community Hospital have also authorized a strike. All three hospitals are operated by the for-profit HCA Healthcare system.

The vote does not mean a work stoppage will happen but opens the door to the possibility. The union would have to give 10 days notice.

“We don’t want to have to strike,” said Tara Adams-Clarke, a physical therapist at Los Robles and a member of the union bargaining team. “We’re prepared to do what we have to do to get the contract we deserve.”

If a strike happens, union members said it would be driven primarily by staffing levels, an issue that has sparked alarm at health care systems nationwide. In September, the issues helped push more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers to walk out for three days in the nation’s largest-ever health care strike.

In 2020, during the first year of the pandemic, Los Robles nurses announced they would launch a 10-day strike on Christmas Eve over staffing and COVID-related issues like personal protective equipment. A settlement on a new three-year contract was reached just days before the planned stoppage.

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Los Robles workers ranging from emergency room techs to pharmacy workers threatened to launch a five-day strike driven by staffing and wage concerns in May. The two sides reached an agreement before the planned work action.

The current strike threat shows the worker shortage remains dire, said Kami Miller, a Los Robles registered nurse and a member of the bargaining team. She said the hospital does not meet state-mandated staffing ratios on a daily basis, forcing nurses to care for more patients then they safely can.

“It’s a life-and-death situation. Patients don’t get their meds on time,” she said. “They don’t get the care they need.”

Union members said they're also pushing for more measures to protect worker safety, including enhanced security, metal detectors and improved lighting outside the hospital.

Los Robles officials said the accusations of violations and jeopardized care are not true. They noted Los Robles was ranked as one of the nation's safest hospitals this year by the Healthgrades rating system.

“Our paramount concern is the safety and well-being of our patients, employees and community,” they said in a written statement.

Carmella Gutierrez, division spokesperson for HCA, said the company’s contract proposal includes an immediate 6% wage increase and a staffing stabilization plan. She said the union has been slow to respond.

“We urge union leaders to get serious about joining us at the table to get a new collective bargaining agreement soon,” she said in an email.The contract divide has spawned other conflict. Los Robles union members said they weren’t allowed to hold their strike vote inside the hospital and their informational flyers were removed from the facility.

At Riverside Community Hospital, HCA distributed their own flyers stating that an arbitrator deemed a 2020 strike at the hospital as illegal, meaning workers' job security was not protected by federal law. The flyers also tell workers they have "the right to say no to any union activities."

“SEIU 121RN has a history of taking reckless actions that could hurt our colleagues and the community,” Gutierrez said. She also said the collective bargaining agreement does not allow for strike votes inside a hospital.

Union leaders said the arbitrator’s ruling focused not on the legal right to strike but on whether a violation to the collective bargaining pact occurred. Rosanna Mendez, the union's executive director, described the flyer's wording as part of a "calculated effort to intimidate nurses who are once again preparing to strike.”

Miller, the Los Robles nurse, was part of the bargaining team in 2020 when the Christmas Eve strike was authorized and then called off. She said fears about striking during the height of COVID influenced the decision.

“It came down to should we leave the hospital high and dry without nurses in this most critical time,” Miller said. She said she couldn’t assess the odds of a strike happening this time around but asserted the bargaining team would be more willing to take action if their contract concerns are not reached.

“The reason we would strike is because of our patients,” she said. “We want our patients to get the best possible care.”

Union members said another bargaining session is set for Nov. 13.

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.

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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Thousand Oaks nurses open the door to strike if deal isn't reached