Union workers strike at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood
The one-day action is called in bid to increase staffing levels and wages. Hospital officials say temporary workers were hired and patient care is unaffected.
Service Employees International Union members struck today at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where temporary workers had been hired in anticipation of the one-day action.
Patient care at the nonprofit hospital was unaffected, said spokeswoman Trish Baesemann.
Strikers included respiratory therapists, nursing assistants and licensed vocational nurses, as well as housekeepers, food workers and registration clerks.
Neither the union nor the hospital had complete figures on how many people went on strike; union officials said hundreds were on strike, while the hospital said that 99 out of 304 union members on the day shift did not show up for work. The hospital did not have figures for tonight's shift.
"We are doing just fine," Baesemann said. "We are in full operation."
Respiratory therapist Donald Bolt said he and other workers were striking to push for increased staffing levels and wages. The hospital has been affected by the closure of the emergency room and in-patient services at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in Willowbrook, just south of Watts, about 2 1/2 miles away.
"In order for us to recruit quality staff and keep them loyal, we have to keep up with the current industry standards," Bolt said by phone as he walked the picket line.
He said St. Francis has been seeing lengthy wait times for its emergency room patients.
"The staffing levels need to be increased in order to provide quality care for the patients," said Bolt, a member of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers-West.
Hospital officials acknowledged that the patient volume has increased 10% to 15% since King-Harbor closed its emergency room and in-patient services in August 2007.
At the same time, Baesemann said, more doctors and nurses have been hired to deal with the increased patient load. In the last year, the hospital has increased the cost of operating the emergency room by about 30% and added 11 additional beds to its emergency room, giving it a total of 46 beds.
As a result, the number of people who leave the emergency room without being seen has dropped from 12.3% in October 2007 to 6.4% this month. Also, the amount of time it takes for an emergency room patient to be given a bed once he or she is deemed ill enough to be admitted has fallen from an average of eight hours in October 2007 to six hours this month, Baesemann said.
She said the hospital also has instituted new policies that have nurses and doctors check emergency room patients earlier than they had been in the past, so patients with minor illnesses can be discharged earlier, freeing up space more quickly for the seriously ill.
Elizabeth Nikels, a spokeswoman with the hospital's parent, Los Altos Hills, Calif.-based Daughters of Charity Health System, said management is ready to continue negotiations.
"We're not going to get an agreement when they are out on the sidewalk," Nikels said.
The two sides have been in negotiations since March, and the union's contract expired in April.
SEIU members at three of the hospital chain's Northern California facilities also participated in today's strike. They are Seton Medical Center in Daly City, O'Connor Hospital in San Jose and St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy.
Lin is a Times staff writer.
ron.lin@latimes.com
