Union steps up drive to organize Cedars' Nurses.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is the hospital of choice for the rich, powerful and famous, with cutting-edge treatments rivaling those at leading academic medical centers.

But the West Los Angeles hospital now finds itself in an unaccustomed position -- in the middle of a heated union organizing campaign by the California Nurses Association that threatens to dirty the hospital's image.

Management has been accused of everything from intimidating employees to violating state and federal laws -- charges it flatly denies, but which have drawn the attention of lawmakers.

"Cedars tries to portray a squeaky clean image but when you scratch the surface you find they are no better than any other business that tries to keep its employees down," charged Joe Newlin, a CNA spokesman.

Cedars officials maintain that while there are some problems at the hospital -- for example more nurse vacancies than they would like -- working conditions are among the best around. The hospital offers salaries and benefits that among the top in the region, while nurses sit on five committees that help establish policy.

They said the union is trying to take advantage of a difficult time in health care.

"We have seen a tremendous increase in demand for services at Cedars over the last few years," said Jeanne Flores, the hospital's senior vice president for human resources. "Its understandable in that kind of environment that the staff feels frustrated at times."

Union vote nears

The union campaign, which started months ago, has reached a critical juncture in anticipation of voting scheduled for Dec. 11-13, during which the hospital's registered nurses will decide whether to join the association.

Taking advantage of a statewide nursing shortage, as well as widespread dissatisfaction by nurses who complain of having to take care of too many patients, the association has organized 17 hospitals in the last two years, adding 5,700 nurses to its ranks.

But organizing Cedars-Sinai, the largest private hospital on the West Coast, would be its biggest victory so far, and would help in organizing other hospitals in Southern California, where the majority of registered nurses are still not unionized.

"They would set the benchmark for benefits and salaries. Other hospitals would have to fall in line if they want to remain competitive and retain employees," said Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Healthcare Association of Southern California, the hospital industry's regional trade group.

The union campaign began earlier this year after a small group of nurses approached the association with a list of complaints about the hospital.

Those issues include too few nurses to safely staff hospital wards, nurses feeling they lack a voice in hospital operations and lagging salaries - even though nurses who favor the union admit these issues may be less critical at Cedars, where some nurses make $40 an hour.

"Staffing at Cedars is better than a lot of the community hospitals, but you can still be overwhelmed," said Joao Da Silva, 34, a registered nurse who works in the emergency room.

Emerging as the key issue, however, is the hospital's pension plan. Nurses currently have a 403(b) plan, which is similar to a 401(k), and fluctuates in value depending on the strength of the stock market. The plans have lost much of their value with the market downturn and there is a push for a defined benefit plan.

"Retirement is a very big issue," said a nurse who works in the intensive care unit, who asked her identity not be revealed. "A girl in my unit lost $3,000 in one quarter."

The establishment of a traditional pension plan with a defined contribution also has emerged as the key issue at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, the second largest private hospital in the county.

That hospital, which was recently organized by the CNA and has been negotiating its first contract for months, is not giving in to demands for a defined benefit plan. That has resulted in two one-day strikes in the past two months, after which the nurses were locked out for four days each.

Hospital response

Nurses said that response to the Cedars union campaign had been lukewarm until the hospital mounted an aggressive campaign to defeat the organizing vote. The hospital hired a labor consulting firm called American Consulting Group Inc. that specializes in helping management defeat union organizing campaigns.

The CNA says the firm has helped organize meetings in which nurses are given the impression they will receive impartial information on federal law governing organizing campaigns. Instead, they are subjected to anti-union rhetoric.

"They say they are from the labor board, but when nurses start questioning them they sort of admit they are from the hospital," said David Monkawa, the association's chief campaign organizer.

The association also claims nurses have been pulled off of wards to attend the mandatory meetings, endangering patient care.

Officials with the firm could not be reached for comment, but Flores defended the hiring of the firm and said the hospital has conducted all meetings properly and without endangering care.

"We are conducting a campaign, and we believe we needed some assistance in conducting the campaign. This is a very technical area of the law," Flores said. "No one is being pulled off their duties to attend meetings."

However, the union claims employees have been threatened by managers for supporting the union and have filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

It also has accused the hospital of possibly using government funds in its campaign, in violation of state law, and has formally complained to Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Lockyer's office said it would investigate the complaint, denied by the hospital.

Moreover, it has contacted its allies in the state Legislature, including state Sen. Sheila Kuehi, D-Los Angeles, and Assembly members Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, and Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, who have sent letters to the hospital questioning its tactics.

Koretz said he met with hospital President Tom Priselac before the campaign heated up and was promised the hospital would only seek to mount an education campaign. "It seems likely that Cedars is going beyond what Cedars assured me in terms of fair elections," Koretz said. "If that is the case they need to take corrective action soon."

Priselac, who could not be reached for comment last week, has sent letters to the legislators defending the hospital's actions. Flores said she believes the legislators are "misinformed."

Should a majority of nurses vote to join the union, the CNA plans to press for a contract and Flores said the hospital would negotiate in good faith. Should the union lose, Monkawa said the union plans to file objections with the national labor board, citing the hospital's actions, so another vote can be held in the near future.