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Published on 11/17/1997 All articles from this issue

El Camino nurses open interest-based bargaining session

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By Carol Tiegs / Town Crier Staff Writer

El Camino Hospital and its nurses union, Professional Resource for Nurses, will be using a new collective bargaining technique called interest-based bargaining in contract negotiations that got under way last week.

The technique focuses on the negotiating party's common interests rather than on demands and conflict.

"You start with what you have in common, rather than what you have in conflict," said Pat Briggs, a registered nurse at El Camino and president of the union.

"It is based on trust and the willingness to take risk. It's a relationship, not just contract negotiations."

"It's a new concept," said Richard Warren, the hospital's chief executive officer and administrator. "It takes an awful lot of trust and understanding on both sides.

"It means management needs to share a lot of rights."

Warren described the more traditional position-based bargaining as confrontational. "It was kind of a football game approach," he said, with each side trying to score the big play.

Briggs said the union had proposed interest-based bargaining last year to the former El Camino Hospital administration. That proposal was turned down.

"The new administration proposed (interest-based bargaining) within two months (of taking over)," Briggs said. "PRN unanimously accepted the proposal. I've never seen anything accepted unanimously before."

Briggs commended Warren for making the proposal.

"We are willing to take the risk due to this administration's commitment to this and to utilizing multi-disciplinary committees to evaluate (hospital programs) and make recommendations for action," Briggs said.

El Camino now has a multi-disciplinary staffing committee and is forming other multi-disciplinary task forces and committees.

"We see the future in these committees," Briggs said.

"We had to prove ourselves to everyone over here," said Warren of new administration, which took control Jan. 1 when the El Camino Hospital District board regained operational control of the hospital.

Since 1992, district assets were in the hands of Camino Healthcare, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation which created an integrated delivery system with the Camino Medical Group.

Concerned with the lack of explanation for growing financial losses, the district board filed a lawsuit against Camino Healthcare, which resulted in the district board regaining operational control.

Both Briggs and Warren said there are wounds to be healed arising from the nonprofit administration's relationship with the hospital's nurses.

"Obviously, our nurses are very important to us," Warren said. "We have been very pleased with (the nurse's union). This is not an out-of-town union. They are our own people.

"They bring a great deal of knowledge. They have as much interest in the success of the hospital as we do."