Lakewood RNs in their new contract won a wage scale that recognizes years of RN seniority. Wage increases will range from 8.1% to 10.1% over the life of the contract, depending on current salary, new wage rate and RN seniority. They also won significant cost controls on health insurance without any cuts to benefits.

The ratification vote was overwhelming. This wasn’t surprising after record numbers of Lakewood RNs attended bargaining over the last five months. Members who attended were able to caucus with the Bargaining Team to discuss proposals and counter-proposals during the negotiations and thus give direct input into the progress of bargaining. Yet again, member unity and collective action proved decisive in winning a strong contract.

A group of Corona nurses met with the California State Assembly Member for Corona, Eric Linder, to talk about why we voted for our union, the positive changes we want to make at our hospital, and to ask for his support. We thank Mr. Linder for meeting with us.

The nurses who met with him in October, from left to right as shown in the photo, were Rani Simon, ICU Nocs; Evelyn Capacio, ICU Nocs; Marilou Santos-Quiambao, ICU Nocs; and Rosemary Kinney, PCU Nocs.

Like Inland Valley Medical Center in Murrieta, St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Lynwood is a base hospital, responsible for coordinating emergency medical services for the surrounding area and requiring a dedicated Mobile Intensive Care Nurse (MICN) available at all times to take emergency radio calls.

Also like Inland Valley, St. Francis MICNs were being assigned patient loads, including break coverage, due to unsafe staffing in the emergency room and at the risk of missing emergency calls.

St. Francis RNs, however, are lucky: they have a union. So they filed a grievance. It was a long fight, but they won everything they asked for.

MICNs will no longer get any patient assignments, including break relief. Even if they’re helping other nurses in the ER, they can’t be given any

assignment that will interfere with taking radio calls. In order to make this work, management has agreed to fully staff the ER at all times, addressing the issues of unsafe staffing.

The Corona Regional Medical Center is in the early stages of several major capital projects that will dramatically change the current facility as well as surrounding buildings. The projects will be completed in three phases.

In Phase One, scheduled for 2016, a three story addition will be made to the existing hospital, a three and half story medical office building will be built, and a five and a half story parking structure will be added. The latter phases are scheduled for 2030. While the Phase One expansion will allow UHS to provide additional services, unfortunately all those extra beds did not prevent the hospital from closing down the pediatrics unit earlier this year.

When questioned by the Corona City Council about their building plans, hospital administration stated a prime factor in deciding the locale of the medical office building was the “threat” of losing patients to competing care facilities, such as

Parkview Community Hospital.

The more we discover about plans for the hospital, the less likely it seems that sale rumors for the hospital are true. The Corona capital project has been termed the “pet project” of the hospital division director at UHS, Corona Regional’s parent company. While anything is possible, it seems highly unlikely at this point that UHS would cede control of a hospital that it is building up.

UNAC/UHCP has community scholarships for you or your loved ones seeking to become health care professionals. Download an application at unacuhcp.org/scholarship. The deadline to apply is December 31, 2013.

Page 2

“We could not have won this without the union. Management was very resistant. But we stood together, we refused to give up, and we won. It’s awesome.”

—Rosa Carcamo, RN, MICN

Corona Looks to Build, Not Sell

St. Francis ED RNs Win a Dedicated MICN

Corona RNs Meet With Our State Assemblyman

One of the rights that UNAC/UHCP members who work at Kaiser have won in their contract is to have union members who can serve as Contract Specialists, who receive extensive training from the union in how to interpret and enforce their contract.

It can pay to have a good Contract Specialist on the case. At Kaiser Sunset CS Mary Danclair discovered that six RNs in Interventional Radiology had not been paid time-and-a-half for working consecutive weekends. A grievance led to an audit going back to 2010. Resolution of the grievance won back pay for all six RNs ranging from $650 to over $20,000.

Victory Pays for Union Members at Kaiser Sunset

Apply Now For UNAC/UHCPCommunity Scholarship

Page 3

Lakewood RNs Win A Wage Grid

The Taste of VictoryWe're part of a big union now—the largest nurses' union in Southern California. Along with over 22,000 other Registered Nurses and other health care professionals, including Nurse Practitioners, Certified Nurse Midwives, Case Managers, Physician Assistants, Optometrists, Pharmacists and others.

Find out inside what's going on at UNAC/UHCP.

Get a taste of the victories that are possible for us now, and what it will be like for us to be a part of this big union in the coming months and years.

Corona Fall 2013Newsletter

We’ve all heard a lot about the ACA, also known as Obamacare, but most of us probably have more questions than answers. Most importantly, how will the continued rollout of ACA affect us on the job, and how will it affect patient care?

Almost a million people have already benefited from the ACA, including patients with pre-existing conditions and children allowed to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26. In 2014, by law everyone will be required to have health insurance. Despite the media focus on glitches, early interest has been strong. Over half a million people accessed the website for Covered California on just the first day, though it’s still too soon to know how many new patients we can expect at our hospitals.

We do know that we can expect changes to our country’s health care system both short and long term. Fewer people will be forced to use our ERs just to see a doctor. UNAC/UHCP members in their contracts have won various mechanisms for having a voice in patient care, such as Labor-Management Partnerships, RN Advisory Committees, Patient Care Committees, which force greater teamwork hospital-wide. Greater communication between doctors, nurses, administration and specialists will be needed to integrate care. More systems will be created to close gaps and help people navigate their health care system. There will be more emphasis on preventive rather than acute and emergency care. RNs with union contracts and protections will be ahead of the curve.

UNAC/UHCP955 Overland Court, Ste. 150San Dimas, CA 91773

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