Health workers walk out of med centers
Administration plan to cut about 200 jobs draws peaceful employee protest
By Rebecca Vesely and Michelle Meyers, STAFF WRITERS, THE OAKLAND TRIBUNE
Article Last Updated: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - 3:49:10 AM PST

Healthcare workers held a one day walk out to protest the upcoming cutbacks to the medical staff at Highland Hospital and other Alameda County medical facilities. Laura A. Oda - STAFF

Hundreds of nurses and other health care workers shut down most of the Alameda County Medical Center on Monday on a 24-hour walkout to protest imminent layoffs in the largest job action there since 1991.

The strike shuttered all outpatient services at Highland Hospital and Eastmont Wellness Center in Oakland, Fairmont Hospital and Winton Wellness Center in San Leandro and the Newark Health Center starting just after midnight Monday. Medical services at juvenile hall were curtailed, and some staff also walked out at John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro.

Inpatient, trauma and emergency services at Highland Hospital in Oakland remained open.

About 100 of the workers gathered outside Highland Hospital on Monday morning in a peaceful protest of an administration plan to cut about 200 jobs. Workers then loaded up their picket signs onto buses and traveled to protests at John George and county supervisor offices. In the early evening, about 30 protesters disrupted a monthly meeting of the medical center's Board of Trustees being held at Eastmont Wellness Center in Oakland, ending it before it could begin.

Union representatives say about 600 workers participated in the walkout throughout the 24-hour period.

Out of 128 registered nurses scheduled on shifts, 35 showed up for work, said medical center spokesman Mike Brown. He said he would have a tally of the job action's cost later this week, which would include registry nurse fees and lost revenue -- but that it could add up to more than $1 million.

Labor unions representing the workers said the planned layoffs would inevitably erode patient care.

"We've been at the table since March and we're not getting anywhere," said Fran Jefferson, executive director of Service Union Employees Local 616, representing workers. "People have just had it."

The medical center has been under management by consulting group Cambio Health Solutions since February on an 18-month, $3.2 million contract. Cambio officials recommended the job cuts to save $12 million this fiscal year and said the medical center could not be restored to fiscal health without such action.

The medical center's Board of Trustees approved the plan in April but negotiations with labor unions over the cuts have since stalled.

"We want a strategic vision and a long-term plan," said Amy Raff-Heynssens, a critical care and trauma nurse at Highland Hospital for 23 years. "There has to be transparency with taxpayer money."

In March, voters approved a half-cent sales tax that would raise about $90 million a year for health care services -- of which 75 percent was earmarked for the medical center. It expires in 15 years.

The workers say this new influx of cash offers a rare opportunity to hold off job cuts and develop ways to enhance revenue. But medical center management has said a combination of job cuts and revenue enhancements are necessary.

The medical center had a $71 million deficit last year and projects a $2.5 million surplus this year with the job cuts, new tax money and plans to expand maternal child health services.

In preparation for the one-day walkout, the medical center retained several hundred registered nurses and other health workers to fill the gap.

B.J. Wilson, a 17-year nurse in John George Psychiatric hospital's emergency room, said when it comes to staffing, she has a simple request.

Wilson, who headed up a team of demonstrators outside the psychiatric hospital, said temporary registry nurses lead to concerns about patient care and security. A doctor was killed at John George last November and a female patient has been charged with the murder.

Such sentiment was echoed along Fairmont Drive in San Leandro, where passersby continually honked horns of support for union members with signs read Cuts to Health Care Can Kill and Cut the Consultants.

About a dozen protesters stormed Supervisor Keith Carson's office and demanded to see him.

Carson, who represents parts of Oakland, last week met with labor representatives and said he would consider working with them to form a committee to review proposals coming out of the medical center, but it would have to be in cooperation with the medical center trustees.

SEIU Locals 616, 250 and 535 representing the workers filed unfair labor practice complaints with the Public Employees Relations Board alleging the medical center is refusing to provide information on the decision-making process behind the proposed layoffs.

Reached later by phone, Carson said like in other county departments this year, layoffs were probably inevitable.

I think based on the fact that there's a clear loss of revenue for the large number of patients served, there's no way to convert that deficit without a combination of things, including layoffs, Carson said.>

Contact Rebecca Vesely at rvesely@angnewspapers.com and Michelle Meyers at mmeyers@angnewspapers.com