Negotiations with LA County will resume on Friday, May 20th

Member,

As you may have heard, earlier this week we announced the announcement that our SEIU 721 Member Bargaining Policy Committee secured a historic win at the Common Language and Fringe Benefits table. The Tentative Agreement includes the biggest 1-year general salary increase in County history with a 5.5% increase.

The reality is we're not done yet! Our Bargaining Teams for our Registered Nurses BU 311 and Supervising Registered Nurses 312 have continued to negotiate around-the-clock, into the early morning on many consecutive days, to deliver the wins that BU 311 and 312 members deserve.

Winning competitive wages to attract and retain nurses, a pathway to a 36 hour work-week for 12 hour shift nurses, and RN specialty recognition has been the priorities for our Bargaining Teams from the start. They've brought well-researched proposals to the bargaining table and remain committed to negotiating a fair deal.

What's been the County's approach? They've failed to adequately respond to our proposals — dragging out Intensive Bargaining for more than 10 days already.

Negotiations with LA County will resume on Friday, May 20th. If a contract agreement is not reached, the union will be sending a Strike Notice to the County of Los Angeles. 

The issues that we are fighting for aren't new to the County. 

During 2018 contract negotiations, our nurses raised the alarm that LA County cannot recruit or retain enough nurses to provide safe patient care. We were hours away from a strike before an agreement was reached. Unfortunately, the County’s solutions proved to be “Band-Aids” for the problem, and their detrimental impacts to patient and nurses' safety have been magnified during this pandemic. 

Shelling out millions to traveler and registry nurses (who make thousands of dollars a week) cannot be the solution nor is it sustainable long term. We're demanding the County gets to the root of the issue — invest in our nurses.

Our nurses stand united to fight for an agreement that is beneficial to ALL nurses – from 1 to 20+ year experience. ALL nurses must benefit from this contract, in ALL County departments! 

In the meantime, all BU 311/312 union members must be on standby until further notice.

You can support your bargaining team by signing a strike commitment card, wearing stickers, and purpling up! Let the County know you are ULP Strike Ready!