Thousand Oaks Nurses Pull Out of Strike

Union-member registered nurses at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks have pulled out of a five-day planned strike while West Hills nurses’ strike plans remain in tact. The SEIU Local 121 RN strike was planned to take place from Dec. 23 to Dec. 28 at West Hills Hospital & Medical Center, Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center and Riverside Community Hospital, which all belong to the parent company HCA. The union said it would not picket the hospitals on Christmas Day. However, bargaining team leaders representing nurses at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center recently announced the Thousand Oaks nurses would not be participating in the protest efforts and would instead negotiate with HCA officials separately. “We totally support West Hills and Riverside, but we’ve chosen a different path for ourselves to have our needs met,” said registered nurse Nanette Logan, who is a bargaining team member for nurses at the hospital. “We have different issues than the other two hospitals have, and we collectively as a bargaining team decided that we wanted to try to go back to the table and deal with some of these issues.” Logan said that the main bargaining issue the nurses at her hospital are focusing on is staffing by patient acuity, though other issues are also being addressed. Union members from the other hospitals are also addressing the staffing issue, along with issues regarding pay scales, career advancement opportunities, rest and meal period regulations and technology training. The strike was called after negotiation discussions took place from Dec. 6 until Dec. 11 and “bargaining broke down,” the union announced. Logan said that while the Thousand Oaks nurses aren’t striking, they are still highly invested in the issues. “We live in the community, we work at the hospital and we receive our health care at that hospital so we have a vested interested, and we feel that we can work with the hospital and get our needs met,” she said. “We’re hoping for an amicable resolution.” Meanwhile, SEIU Local 121 RN spokeswoman Aimee Barajas said nurses at the other two hospitals are still set to strike. “All of our nurses at Riverside and West Hills, they’re ready to go,” Barajas said. “We have the supplies and trucks, so we’re going to be out there Thursday morning on the picket line.”