Respect for Nurses Equals Quality Care

In light of Nurse Appreciation Week, over seventy L.A. County Registered Nurses attended the May 8 Board of Supervisors meeting to address their concerns about the County-imposed RN reclassification system. Four RNs testified to the lack of a fair and equitable reclassification process and asked for an investigation and report-back from the Chief Administrative Officer. The Board moved to require the report back from the CAO within 60 days. SEIU Local 721 RN Chair, Grace Corse, calls the report back a victory that will help us hold management accountable to implement a fair process for all Nurses.

“We negotiated a historic contract last year that represents a giantstep forward toward building a compensation system that will support RNretention and recruitment. However, we are facing significantchallenges in implementing the new system which we must address inorder to move forward. ..for the first time, the County is about totransfer close to 4,000 employees into three new classifications.Unfortunately, there isn’t a system in place to make this transitionwork.”	Grace Corse
“I am not a generic nurse, I am not an RN I. I am a professional womanwho is committed to a professional career...I believe that anyRegistered Nurse Classification System must be fully respectful of theprofessionalism of Nursing. It needs to offer a professional practicecareer pathway for nurses. It needs to support professional integrityand accountability”.	Audrey Nwanko
“The arbitrary, subjective nature of the AP process has left many verygood Nurses with scores that do not accurately reflect who they are andtheir ability to be a RN 2 or 3. It is too easy for score to be skewedby personality conflicts”.	Alice Burstron
“In order to continue to serve the people of Los Angeles Countyeffectively, we (Nursing Care Specialists) must continue to berecognized in the organizational structure as leaders, experts,consultants, and educators.”	Cindy Mayeda