Napolitano’s newest headache: “Outright bullying” and “patient deaths”

Napolitano’s newest headache: “Outright bullying” and “patient deaths”
Josh Eidelson
Salon
Nov 20, 2013

Four months after former Obama Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano took the helm of the massive University of California system, unions representing 35,000 U.C. employees are staging a one-day strike over alleged illegal intimidation.

“She is the president, and she has the power to make change,” said Tim Thrush, a diagnostic stenographer and a vice president of the 21,000-member American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, which instigated the strike. “Ultimately it all comes back to her,” said Marco Rosales, a head steward in the 13,000-member United Auto Workers Local 2865, a student-worker union that is joining the strike.

At issue in today’s walkout is AFSCME’s allegation that U.C. management repeatedly violated state labor law in efforts to discourage the union’s members — patient care technical and service workers employed in medical centers – from mounting an unprecedented work stoppage last May. In charges filed with the government, AFSCME charges that administrators violated the state Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act through a battery of fear tactics: repeated statements by top officials promising or implying potential punishment for strikes; threatening postings and letters; and interrogations by individual managers.

“It’s a little disturbing that, you know, as we are fighting for patient safety in the workplace, and just being advocates for what’s right for the patients and their families, that management would act so aggressively to try to shut us up,” said AFSCME’s Thrush.

Thrush is among the AFSCME members who say they were personally intimidated by management in the lead-up to last May’s strike, before Napolitano took over for then-president Mark Yudof. He told Salon that his manager gave him a list of supplies to fetch from a supply room, and then “proceeded to pursue me” there, “blocking the door, and very aggressively began to interrogate me.” Thrush added, “Her hands were on her hips and she was roughly maybe two feet from my face, and was telling me that I was acting illegally, that I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing, that I would be hurting patients and she didn’t think it was right that I told the other employees what their legal rights were when she was interrogating them.” He called the tactic “outright bullying,” and said he found it “pretty The evidence presented by AFSCME also includes a message from U.C. labor relations director Peter Chester stating that “Service Unit employees at any location who engage in an unlawful sympathy strike face the possibility of disciplinary action,” and notices posted throughout the U.C. Davis Medical Center warning that “If an employee fails to report to work on one or more days between May 20 and 23, their absence will be considered unauthorized, they will not be paid, and they may be subject to disciplinary action.” (The union alleges the university espoused specious arguments that strikes would be illegal as a way to intimidate workers out of participating, and then withdrew its legal charges to that effect because they were bogus.)

Asked about the allegations, the strike and Napolitano’s role, the university referred Salon to a series of recent statements, one of which charged that “even the threat of an AFSCME strike has already affected patients,” including the rescheduling of elective surgeries, and said that it had “proposed several packages that showed significant movement in response to the union’s concerns and offered multi-year wage increases, affordable healthcare and quality pension benefits, which AFSCME rejected.” AFSCME countered that as in May, certain critical employees would voluntarily stay on the job under the union’s Patient Protection Task Force. In another statement, U.C. vice president Dwaine Duckett said that the university “asked AFSCME-represented employees if they planned to come to work, as is our a normal procedure, so we could adjust staffing as needed and ensure we could still care for patients during the strike.” AFSCME contends that the university violated several legal limitations on such conversations.

AFSCME and U.C. administrators have been in negotiations for over a year and a half. The university has blamed the lack of an agreement on AFSCME’s resistance to pension changes, while AFSCME has blamed the university’s rejection of proposals it says would improve patient safety. “We have made major concessions on many of our proposals, including wages and retirement benefits, in hopes that they would respond to our safety proposals,” said Thrush. “And they have not.” He cited AFSCME proposals regarding training and staffing. Noting fines assessed by government agencies, he charged, “There’s been patient deaths as a result of staffing issues and neglect of the safety” of patients.

Thrush offered some praise for Napolitano’s record to date, saying, “We find her to be much more open and receptive to working with the unions and our right to advocate with patients” and “we would hope that she would carry that new attitude on to her management group and get them to actually give us a workplace that’s safe and free of the intimidation tactics that they apply to quiet our voice.” The UAW’s Rosales was less optimistic, charging Napolitano has tried to “take the wind out of our sails” by publicly committing to invest funds that are “actually the amount of money that we would get in raises each year,” and thus “trying to co-opt the pressure that is being put on the university.” Rosales added, “I don’t think she’s done a good job of responding to these issues in earnest. It seems not very genuine.” The striking AFSCME and UAW locals are both helmed by leaders who ran on reform platforms and ousted incumbent union officials in bitter 2011 contests...

Strikes at University of California hospitals statewide

Second strike in 6 months at UCLA Medical Center
Some UC Hospital Workers To Participate In 1-Day Strike Wednesday
CBS Local News
Nov 20, 2013

Hundreds of replacement workers will fill in for workers on strike. Dr. Tom Rosenthal, the chief medical officer ...


LAST MAY:

UCLA Chief Medical Officer Says Strike Is About Pensions, Not Patient Care
May 21, 2013
WESTWOOD (CBSLA.com) — As a two-day strike began Tuesday at five of the biggest medical centers in the University of California system, medical workers say they are protesting low staffing levels and patient care, while officials contend that the strike is about pensions.

Thousands of union medical workers walked picket lines throughout the state, including at UC Irvine and the Westwood and Santa Monica campuses of UCLA Medical Center. The strike officially began at 4a.m. Tuesday morning.

The strike comes after nearly a year of stalled contract negotiations with UC administrators. Striking workers said they are protesting a range of issues, including patient care and current staffing levels.

“I am here for my patients, I’m really concerned about their safety,” said radiation therapist Jenny Takakura, who administers radiation to cancer patients.

“We’ve had three therapists that have left, and each time they’ve left they have not been replaced,” she said.

UCLA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tom Rosenthal said there are no issues with patient care...

[Maura Larkins comment: In fact, there are issues with patient care at UCLA, but they are hushed up. UCLA achieves this by working with other medical centers. UCLA hushes up other hospitals' problems, thus making sure other hospitals aren't motivated to improve, and keeping UCLA's reputation among the best. In fact, the grading is on a curve, so laziness and greed are allowed free rein.]



"The union representing patient care and service employees at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica held a strike last Wednesday. Strikes took place at each of the University of California hospitals statewide on the same day."

UCLA-Santa Monica Hospital Workers Participate In Strike
Parimal M. Rohit
Santa Monica Mirror
Nov. 29, 2013

For the second time in almost six months, some workers from the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center participated in a one-day strike last week.

The Nov. 20 strike, coordinated by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299, took place at each of the University of California hospitals statewide, including the UCLA-run facilities both in Santa Monica and in Westwood.

All hospitals remained open, with elective surgeries directly impacted by the one-day walkout, according to news reports.

Similar to the two-day strike at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and other University of California hospitals in May, elective surgeries scheduled for Nov. 20 were reportedly rescheduled.

Union officials and the workers participating in the strike made demands for increased staffing, pay raises, and updated pension plans.

According to a statement released by UCLA Health, 325 replacement workers filled in for those who joined the picket line. Some administration staff members were “redeployed” to substitute for a variety of workers ranging from housekeeping staff to respiratory therapists and nursing assistants, according to UCLA Health.

“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this strike may cause our patients and their families and friends,” UCLA Hospital System’s chief medical officer Dr. Tom Rosenthal said in a released statement prior to the strike. “However, every effort is being made to ensure that the hospitals and clinics that are part of the UCLA Health System remain open and continue to deliver the highest level of patient care.”

In all, 20 percent of elected surgeries scheduled during the one-day strike were rescheduled.

It was estimated the one-day strike would cost the entire UCLA Health System $2.5 million, including lost revenue and compensation for replacement workers.

AFSCME represents about 22,000 patient care and service employees. About 3,800 of those employees work for the UCLA Health System.

Despite the strike, UCLA Health said approximately 75 percent of AFSCME employees still showed up for work.

Also on the picket line alongside AFSCME Local 3299 members were representatives of other unions representing teaching assistants, lecturers, librarians, nurses, and healthcare and research employees at the University of California.

A similar strike took place May 21 and 22, when nearly 30,000 people participated in a two-day strike at University of California hospitals across the state. Members of the second labor union, University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), joined the two-day strike in solidarity.

At Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, more than 100 hospital employees lined Wilshire Boulevard and 16th Street during the two-day strike last May in an effort to increase staffing, update pension plans, and demand raises.

In September, AFSCME Local 3299 filed a complaint with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) and alleged representatives on behalf of the Regents of the University of California engaged in intimidation practices against hospital workers during the two-day strike in May.

Specifically, the complaint charged the Regents of the University of California with threatening “adverse action against employees for participating in a strike,” listing three scenarios where a UC representative allegedly singled out an employee to be terminated or reprimanded if they took part in the two-day walkout in May.

The Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center is a 267-bed facility located at 16th Street and Wilshire Boulevard.


Strike news update at UCLA
By UCLA Newsroom
November 20, 2013

An estimated 230 UCLA service employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) did not report to work on Wednesday. Among them are cooks and food service workers, landscaping crews and custodial staff. (Staff at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center are separate.)

To minimize the impact on campus operations, supervisors prioritized tasks, performed some duties and utilized temporary replacement workers.

In dining facilities operated by Housing and Hospital Services, meals were simplified. Four facilities representing about 30 percent of the operation were closed for the day: Bruin Plate, Feast at Rieber, Hedrick Test Kitchen and Café 1919.

Custodial service in on-campus housing was prioritized around the cleaning of restrooms and removal of refuse from living areas.

Cleaning priorities for other campus buildings were focused on the highest-demand classrooms, restrooms, libraries. UCLA attempted to provide some minimum amount of service to all buildings on Wednesday.

Landscaping crews focused on trash removal and key campus areas.