Nurses in four states go on strike including those at Barton Hospital

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Barton Hospital nurses went from the operating room to the picket line Friday morning, saying their 15 months of union contract negotiations with their employer have not done enough to address health benefits for nurses.

The nurses with their signs spread out on the four corners of Lake Tahoe Boulevard and 3rd Street as well as across the street from the hospital on South Street.

As the South Lake Tahoe nurses were on the picket lines, so were thousands of nurses in Illinois, California, Arizona, and Florida who are all part of the National Nurses United, the same as the local nurses. While all carried similar red signs and wore similar red t-shirts, the reasons for the one-day strike are different.

"We picked this day to talk about healthcare," said Registered Nurse Kelli Teteak of the Barton Intensive Care Unit.

The Barton nurses want a better healthcare plan with lower deductibles and lower costs which they believe will attract more potential employees, keep nurses from leaving, and keep nurses from going into collections from high medical bills.

On August 27, Barton offered a counter-proposal to the union’s wage proposal, which would result in an average 10 percent wage increase for bargaining unit nurses over three years.

"We need a health care proposal first, then we can look at the bigger picture," said Teteak. She said they can't agree on wage packages until they know if the costs would work with the pay.

"Barton provides all employees with three health plans to choose from," said Barton Director of Marketing, Public Relations & Patient Experience Mindi Befu. "The plans provide coverage levels with differing deductibles: two PPO plans with different premiums and deductibles ($750 or $2,500) or a high deductible health saving account (HSA) that falls between the two PPOs in terms of cost, but includes a deductible that must be met before the financial benefits kick in."

She said the least expensive plan costs $40-$120 per pay period, depending on if the employee ensures only themselves or their family. Premiums drop in cost if the employees opts to participate in Barton’s wellness program which helps employees achieve optimum health by offering education, classes, and support toward other health-related goals such as weight loss and smoking cessation.

In addition to lower premiums and lower deductibles, the nurses also want to see the debt owed by some of them to Barton for medical needs cleared off the books.

"If healthcare was more affordable our nurses wouldn't be in collections," said Beth Dameral, RN. "Some of their deductibles are as high as $6,000."

Between 2014 and 2018, there has been an average of thirteen nurses per year (which equates to 7 percent) were sent to collections for not paying their medical bill in full or setting up an interest-free payment plan.

Dameral said some nurses have quit because of the healthcare costs for nurses. She also said better healthcare costs would attract new staff.

Current copays for the PPO plans offered at Barton to their employees don't require employees to meet deductibles if the employee uses a Barton facility or provider. Some examples include: Doctor visits and urgent care: $25 per visit, Rehabilitation: $25 per visit, MRI/ CT/ PET: $250, Inpatient hospital visit: $750 per admission, X-rays and Lab: $35, Generic drugs: $15.

Just as their counterparts did across the country, the Barton nurses went on a one-day strike, Friday, September 20. Since the hospital has to hire replacements, the company they do business with requires a five-day contract so the Barton nurses will be off until Wednesday morning. The University of Chicago Medical Center, for one, also has their striking nurses off for five days for the same reason.

In the other states, the nurses were striking for better nurse-to-patient ratios in order for them to be able to provide the best possible care and strengthen the recruitment and retention of experienced nurses.

During the Barton nurses' April 24, 2019 strike, their focus was on a need for management to take the necessary steps to retain experienced nurses and schedule the staffing necessary to provide the best patient care possible.

A normal hospital-nurse union contract has about 70 tentative agreements (TAs) and since negotiations began in March 2018, the two sides have reached 29 TAs. The nurses union filed Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in April 2019, with Barton filing the same against the union. Each side contended the other party was refusing to engage in good-faith collective bargaining. In August 2019, the NLRB found no merit to the ULP filed by the union against Barton Health. In September 2019, the NLRB substantiated the ULP charge against the union and required the union to comply with Barton’s request to provide a copy of a contract from a hospital similar to Barton.

Two more bargaining sessions were slated for the end of September but they were canceled due to the strike. At this time it is unknown when they can get back together to work out differences.

Just 15 minutes after the Barton nurses walked out at 7:00 a.m. a patient arrived at the hospital by private vehicle suffering from what appeared to be cardiac arrest. This diagnosis was confirmed by the Barton Emergency Room staff, who immediately began treatment. During this time, Barton Health was fully staffed, said Befu.

"While our regular nurses had already departed for their picket line, replacement nurses were on site for this incident and were joined by a full cadre of physicians and technicians," added Befu. The patient later passed away.

"Our hearts go out to the patient’s family at this difficult time," she said.