COUNTY HOSPITAL DOCTORS PLEDGE TO PICKET.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Doctors working at Los Angeles County public hospitals said Thursday they soon would start picketing, slowing down paperwork and taking other action unless they receive the same raises given nurses.

The doctors, who said they frequently work 80 to 100 hours a week with no overtime pay, promised not to walk off their jobs or compromise patient care in the series of labor actions scheduled to start Nov. 5. But they said they will protest in other ways, including providing more expensive levels of care to patients.

``I cannot understand how the county believes it can keep the hospital staffed with professional, committed doctors when it pays less than any other county hospital in California,'' said Lorraine Williams-Smith, a chief resident surgeon at County/USC Medical Center and president of the doctors union, the Joint Council of Interns and Residents.

The doctors, who work at County/USC Medical Center, King-Drew Medical Center and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, are mad because they have been offered raises of 10 percent over the next three years, while nurses will get 14.5 percent.

County officials said the nurses were offered 4.5 percent more to correct a salary inequality between county nurses and those working in private hospitals.

Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen declined to comment specifically on the dispute with the doctors, saying he does not discuss ongoing negotiations.

He said county negotiators compared employees' salaries with those at other institutions and made adjustments when inequities were discovered, as in the case of nurses.

That didn't satisfy doctors or their supporters.

``I am really appalled the county would have the unmitigated gall to offer doctors less than what they offered the registered nurses,'' said Grace Course, a County/USC Medical Center nurse who spoke out in support of the doctors at a news conference at the hospital.

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PHOTO Dr. Cindy Stotts discusses the long hours residents work at County/USC Medical Center.

David Sprague/Daily News