Antelope Valley Hospital nurses give 10 days notice of plans to stage unfair labor strike

Nurses say a one-day ULP strike is planned for Tuesday, November 19

Registered nurses at Antelope Valley Medical Center (AVMC) in Lancaster, California, have informed their employer that they will hold a one-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike on November 19 after management failed to negotiate in good faith and take reprisals. against nurses and excessive delays during contract negotiations, California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) announced. This announcement comes after a near-unanimous vote on the strike permit in September. The nurses, who are members of CNA/NNU, will notify the hospital at least ten days in advance so that alternative plans for patient care can be made.

Since negotiations began in March, management has delayed negotiations, retaliated against nurses who spoke out at board meetings, and refused to provide meaningful responses to nurses’ proposals on key issues such as safe staffing levels and nurse retention. Their contract expired on May 25, 2024.

“We want the hospital to respect our rights, our voice and our union,” he said Linda Lummus, RN and nurse educator at AVMC, the only full-service acute care hospital in the Antelope Valley. “We want safe staffing. We want management to come to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith on issues that impact patient care.”

WHO: Registered Nurses at Antelope Valley Medical Center
What: One-day ULP strike for a fair contract
When: Tuesday, November 19, 7:00 AM to Wednesday, November 20, 6:59 AM
Where: Antelope Valley Medical Center, 1600 W. Ave. J, Lancaster, on the sidewalk

“We are striking because we want the hospital to end the harassment of nurses who participate in union activities,” the spokesperson said. Brandi Wechsberg, RN in AVMC’s post-anesthesia care unit, which serves more than 220,000 patients annually. “Management’s lack of response to our bargaining proposals and retaliation is hindering our ability to recruit and retain nurses.”

Nurses say retention and chronic understaffing throughout the hospital is another major issue. AVMC’s nurse turnover rate of 28 percent is more than 50 percent higher than the national average RN turnover rate (18.4 percent). AVMC nurses have proposed measures to:

• Improve recruitment and retention of skilled and experienced nurses at AVMC.
• Maintain safe staffing practices to prevent nurses from being “transferred” (temporarily reassigned) to units outside their area of ​​expertise.
• Avoid excessive standby and on-call services.

Nurses spoke out in the healthcare district meeting of the board of directors in July to require safe staffing, held a informative picket for patient safety in June and committed to patient safety in January.

CNA/NNU represents more than 900 nurses at Antelope Valley Hospital.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the country, with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and nearly 225,000 nurses nationwide.