For Immediate Release
Thursday, May 28, 1998
AFSCME Nurses Ratify First Contract With Sharp HealthCare; Non-Nurses Now Prevented from Performing Nursing Duties
Historic Pact Is Culmination of Three-Year Fight For Patient Care
A three-year fight over patient care issues was won tonight when the 2,600 registered nurses at six Sharp HealthCare hospitals ratified a historic collective bargaining agreement with the company that includes a provision prohibiting anyone but nurses from performing tasks requiring nursing expertise. The nurses are represented by the Sharp Professional Nurses Network (SPNN), United Nurses Associations of California (UNAC), an affiliate of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
"It takes a lot of determination to endure a contract fight for three years, and we applaud these nurses for their sacrifices on behalf of patients," said Gerald W. McEntee, AFSCME president. "In the long run, Sharp realized that what the nurses wanted is critical for the entire community."
Concerned about patient care as well as the erosion of their professional practice, the nurses began organizing in June 1995 with the assistance of UNAC/NUHHCE/AFSCME, which already represented nurses at Kaiser San Diego and Balboa Naval Medical Center (and other hospitals throughout Southern California).
The organizing drive picked up steam with word that Sharp would possibly be sold to Columbia/HCA, and in June 1996, the nurses voted 1114-622—almost 2-1—to be represented by a new UNAC affiliate, the Sharp Professional Nurses Network (SPNN). The vote was partly historic because the Sharp nurses were the largest group of their kind to vote for collective bargaining representation.
The battle did not end there, for despite the overwhelming margin, Sharp refused to recognize the nurses’ union for months. As part of their effort to win recognition, the SPNN/UNAC nurses worked closely with a coalition of community groups concerned about patient care issues in San Diego.
Their argument: The best way to enhance patient care quality at Sharp HealthCare was to forge a partnership with the people who provided the vast majority of hands-on patient care—the nurses—and not an alliance with a major conglomerate from outside the community.
Finally, in February 1997, Sharp officials announced they were breaking off talks with Columbia—and agreed to recognize the union. Bargaining commenced in May of that year and concluded earlier this month.
Highlights of the three-year pact include:
- non-nurses may no longer perform nursing duties;
- nurses will not be required to perform non-nursing functions;
- establishment of both a Registered Nurse Advisory Committee to address professional concerns and a health-and-safety response team;
- job security provisions;
- a grievance procedure with binding arbitration;
- increases in starting and maximum pay rates, pay steps, night shift differentials and per diem pay.
UNAC President Kathy Sackman, RN, said that while wage and other financial gains are important to the nurses, the overriding concern during negotiations, as during the organizing drive, was concern for patients.
"Money alone would not have won the organizing drive, and money alone would not have moved the contract negotiations to their successful conclusion," Sackman said. "What made both efforts work was a concern about patient care quality, and the Sharp nurses’ realization that a union contract was the best way to have those concerns addressed in constructive fashion."
Barbara Dent, a registered nurse who works in medical intensive care at Sharp Chula Vista, agreed. "When we first began organizing, we sent out a survey asking the nurses to list their top concerns according to priority, and wages ended up at number eight," Dent said. "We want and we deserve to be paid decently, but our top concerns were job security, grievance and arbitration and—most important—patient care, patient care and patient care."
"This contract not only gives us some stability, it also gives us a voice in the workplace, something we’ve been lacking," said Maggie Dahms, a recovery room nurse at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women. "Most of us felt like we were on a downhill slide, particularly during Sharp’s discussions with Columbia/HCA, but this contract brings us back to where we should be: in a strong position to care and advocate for our patients."
The United Nurses Associations of California is affiliated with the 1.3 million member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents 360,000 health care workers nationwide. In addition to the Sharp nurses, AFSCME has won several major health care-related affiliating drives in recent years, including:
- The affiliation last August of the 5,000-member Union of American Physicians and Dentists, which at the time was the largest independent union of doctors in the country;
- The signing up last summer of thousands of home care workers in San Diego County, organized by the AFSCME affiliated United Domestic Workers of America.
