eUpdate | September 25, 2015
County Considers Strike Announcement Premature
Nurses Call for Strike as Bargaining Continues
The California Nurses Association (CNA) notified Contra Costa County today of its intent to strike on October 6-7, 2015. That action comes despite extensive and continuing negotiation sessions. The members of CNA provide emergency and follow-up medical care for patients, many of whom are critically ill, at the County's public hospital and eleven clinics.
Contra Costa County is committed to working together in the negotiation process to reach a mutually agreed upon contract. To that end, the County has met 29 times with CNA since the most recent contract expired at the end of July, 2014.
"The call for a strike is premature because it comes at a time when we are still at the bargaining table, working to resolve the contract dispute," said County Administrator David Twa. "The County has made a fair offer, including a cumulative 14% wage hike, with no increase in employee costs for health care or retirement over the three year term."
County Administrator Twa encouraged CNA leadership to continue negotiating with the County. "We believe we can make progress on the contract issues while meeting our mutual goal of continuing to provide excellent patient care," Twa said. "We value our nurses and their work tremendously, but as we continue to feel the financial effects of the Great Recession, we have to use our limited revenue increases to help increase salaries for all of our dedicated county employees."
The County Administrator released the following statement today regarding the strike notice:
"The County has been negotiating in good faith with leadership of the California Nurses Association since the end of CNA's most recent contract, which expired July 31, 2014. Unlike most County employees, the nurses did not take a reduction in wages or benefits during the Great Recession.
Given limited resources available, the County has made a fair offer to our nurses, whose services we value tremendously:
- A three year contract with a cumulative total of 14% in wage increases over the term of the agreement.
- No increase in contributions by nurses towards the cost of their health care premiums, and no reduction in health benefits.
- Continued subsidy by the County of the employee's share of retirement costs.
29 bargaining sessions have been held so far, with progress made on many issues to reach a fair and equitable agreement. We consider the decision to strike to be unnecessary and premature given the County's good faith desire to continue to negotiate, and believe that additional bargaining meetings would be productive.
Reliable, safe and quality patient care is of the highest priority, and the County has the responsibility to prepare for the strike in the interests of our patients. Our County hospital provides essential safety net services for our most vulnerable residents. This is not simply a matter of asking the public to postpone elective treatment, but a matter of public safety. As an example, we provide the only emergency psychiatric care available 24x7. And with the recent closure of Doctors Medical Center, our emergency room and labor and delivery services are vitally needed.
While a strike would be very disruptive to our patients and very expensive to our taxpayers, the County must be prepared to contract for qualified replacement nursing staff at our hospital and health clinics as needed during a walkout. These arrangements must be made in advance of a strike to ensure qualified patient care to the many people we serve.
In the interest of continuing to provide reliable, quality care to our patients, we believe the focus of labor and the County should remain on working collaboratively to resolve our remaining contract issues rather than planning for a strike. We recognize that the salaries of most other county employees were impacted by the Great Recession, which reduced revenues to the County. We remain committed to increasing pay for all county employees in a fair and equitable manner given the financial resources available.
The County will provide regular updates to our patients and the public during any job action that would impact patient services; information will be available at www.contracosta.ca.gov.
We hope CNA will refocus its energy on bargaining rather than striking, but in the event of a job action, the county is prepared to provide our patients with the quality health care they deserve."
