County Nurses Accept Contract With Pay Raises

Nurses at the county’s public hospital have settled a long-standing pay dispute, approving a contract that could bring salary increases for most nurses of up to 10.5% over the next two years.

The agreement between county officials and the California Nurses Assn., announced over the weekend, is expected to be approved by the Board of Supervisors in the next couple of weeks, union spokeswoman Yoli Rios said Monday.

The county’s Human Resources Department estimates the agreement will cost less than $1 million per year, but declined to provide details pending an analysis expected by the end of the week.

Pay for nurses has been a hotly disputed issue not only at Ventura County’s public health facilities but also in private hospitals. Health care providers cite a nursing shortage, evidenced by bidding wars among area hospitals in recent years.

“This settlement reveals to me that [the county acknowledges] the nursing shortage is a reality,” Rios said. “They want to keep skilled, experienced nurses.”

County nurses now earn $13-$23 an hour, depending on their level of experience, Rios said. Under the agreement, some nurses could earn wage increases beyond the 10.5%. For example, top-end registered nurses who pursue specialized training and work weekend shifts could earn closer to $30 an hour.

County nurses “really work hard and they deserve that raise,” said Supervisor John K. Flynn. “There is a shortage of nurses. We’ve got to keep them.”

Last May, St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard announced a 24% pay increase for critical care nurses, bringing hourly wages up to $26. That triggered a pay raise at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura and a 4% increase for county nurses, with the promise of more increases down the road.

As those talks were unfolding, Rios said, county nurses heard that St. John’s was offering additional 5% increases to recruits to attract new nurses. With last week’s agreement, county nurses got a deal they could live with--and that will keep them serving in public facilities, Rios said.

Under the agreement, each of 250 registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses and psychiatric technicians who work at Ventura County Medical Center and its clinics would receive an immediate 2.5% salary increase.

Nurses who still fall below the average pay of their counterparts in seven other Southern California counties would receive additional increases up to 10.5% over the next two years.

The nursing shortage is so serious a concern that Community Memorial included a nursing scholarship program in its list of programs to be funded in a proposed ballot initiative that would strip the county of its $260-million tobacco settlement and turn the funds over to private hospitals.

Community Memorial plans to soon begin collecting the roughly 21,000 signatures needed to get the initiative on the November ballot. County supervisors are staunchly opposed to the initiative.

Meanwhile, Keith Jajko, chief of staff to Supervisor Judy Mikels, resigned his county post last week to become an account supervisor at the Los Angeles offices of Fleishman-Hillard Inc., the public relations firm hired by Community Memorial to organize the initiative campaign.

A supervisor at the firm confirmed that Jajko is assigned to the hospital campaign as well as other accounts. Mikels said she accepted his resignation immediately so as to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.

“The timing was not great, but I wish him luck,” Mikels said.