Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on Demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: With moo Kelly onk AM six. Registered nurses at Memorial
Speaker 2: Care Long Beach Medical Center gave notice to their employer
Speaker 2: back on May eighth that they will hold a one
Speaker 2: day strike starting at seven am on May twenty second,
Speaker 2: to protest the hospital's refusal to what they call a
Speaker 2: dishonest engagement in good faith negotiations over needed improvements to
Speaker 2: patient care, nurse working conditions and staffing. Joining us right
Speaker 2: now on Later with mo Kelly is registered nurse Nedra
Speaker 2: Gails to give us some sense or at least on
Speaker 2: the side of nurses, what is going on both inside
Speaker 2: the hospital and outside of it as far as negotiations.
Speaker 2: Neda Gails is nice to have you on the show tonight.
Speaker 2: How are you, Thank you, Moe.
Speaker 3: I'm doing well.
Speaker 2: How should I describe how desperate or I should say
Speaker 2: how concerned nurses are at the working conditions at Long
Speaker 2: Beach Memorial.
Speaker 3: Well, the primary reason for the nurses going on strike
Speaker 3: is for the sake of our patients and also for ourselves,
Speaker 3: you know, our our protests is it's towards the management
Speaker 3: for their refusal to just address the concerns that the
Speaker 3: nurses have regarding safe patient care, staffing, workplace violence protections,
Speaker 3: and you know, just the overall well being of the
Speaker 3: pace population that we cared for at Memorial and other children.
Speaker 2: Do I have this correct? That there was a negotiation
Speaker 2: which was planned for late last week and instead of
Speaker 2: the negotiation they handed out pink slips to various nurses.
Speaker 2: Is that correct?
Speaker 3: The negotiation was set for last Friday and our management
Speaker 3: team decided not to appear. Our nurse negotiation team did
Speaker 3: it follow through and we were present at the table
Speaker 3: ready to meet and discuss and hopefully come together with
Speaker 3: a contract that was very inequitable, but again the management
Speaker 3: of the hospital decided that they would not come.
Speaker 2: Tell me out what's it like on an average day
Speaker 2: in Long Beach Memorial because of these issues? Are nurses
Speaker 2: being overworked? Are they not getting the type of support
Speaker 2: and support staff that they need? What are some of
Speaker 2: the central issues which is having nurses speak out and
Speaker 2: also protests, picket and eventually go on strike May twenty second.
Speaker 3: So mo, what we are asking for regarding the safe
Speaker 3: staffing is, you know, we want to be able to
Speaker 3: take care of our patients the best way we can,
Speaker 3: and when we have units that are not fully staffed,
Speaker 3: patients are waiting for long periods of time for care
Speaker 3: in our emergency departments. Those kinds of situations are concerning
Speaker 3: to the nurses and to the community.
Speaker 2: Now that you are shorter staffed, because I know there
Speaker 2: have been layoffs, what is the concern, In other words,
Speaker 2: are there going to be any gaps in patient help
Speaker 2: or patient care between now and the twenty second because
Speaker 2: of these recent layoffs.
Speaker 3: So because of one of the things that we're asking
Speaker 3: for with regards to our protests, it does have to
Speaker 3: do with services being cut to the community. An example
Speaker 3: is our outpatient children's clinics. Because of these layoffs that
Speaker 3: you mentioned of, some of those services are quite possibly
Speaker 3: not going to continue the way that the community has
Speaker 3: known them. A prime example is the closing of of
Speaker 3: the outpatient Children's Village pharmacy, where a lot of the
Speaker 3: children that are seen in those clinics, they are having
Speaker 3: to get their medications from outside pharmacies that they're not
Speaker 3: familiar with, and some of the specialized medications are harder
Speaker 3: to attain.
Speaker 2: If you're just tuning in, my guest right now is
Speaker 2: Nedra Gails, who is a registered nurse working at Long
Speaker 2: Beach Memorial. We're talking about how nurses have given notice
Speaker 2: to their employer that on May twenty second, they plan
Speaker 2: to go on a one day strike starting at seven
Speaker 2: am on May twenty second, to bring more like to
Speaker 2: negotiations with it, which at this point have been stalled
Speaker 2: over needed improvements to patient care, working conditions and staffing.
Speaker 2: And Netje let me pick up there on May twenty second.
Speaker 2: If things progress as they seem to be progressing, what
Speaker 2: does that one day strike look like? And how many
Speaker 2: nurses are we talking about? Everyone? How does the hospital
Speaker 2: continue to function without your work.
Speaker 3: So well? One of the big deals about this strike.
Speaker 3: We proposed a one day strike starting on May twenty
Speaker 3: second and ending the night of May twenty second. The
Speaker 3: management of the hospital has elected to lock us out
Speaker 3: until well for four days, so it'll be a tool
Speaker 3: of five days that you know we will be away
Speaker 3: from the bedside.
Speaker 2: Does that let me jump in there? Does that mean
Speaker 2: that patients will be lacking for care or will they
Speaker 2: be bringing in other nurses from other locations or other
Speaker 2: physicians assistance if you will to cover the gap while
Speaker 2: you are not working there during that time.
Speaker 3: So during the time that we are out on strike,
Speaker 3: the hospital management has made the decision to bring in replacement,
Speaker 3: and it comes on that decision comes on the heels
Speaker 3: of the approximately eighty nurses that have been laid off,
Speaker 3: and it gives kind of a mixed what's the word like?
Speaker 3: It gives us Yeah, because the hospital is investing in
Speaker 3: outside workforce when there have been nurses that have been
Speaker 3: laid off from their jobs, and then we we're willing
Speaker 3: and are willing to come back to work after our protests. No,
Speaker 3: it doesn't really like balance. Now.
Speaker 2: I don't want to get to a far ahead of
Speaker 2: what your union is proposing to do. But in a
Speaker 2: general sense, if we continue on this path and management
Speaker 2: at Long Beach Memorial is reluctant to negotiate, or does
Speaker 2: not start restart negotiations, or does not meet your demands
Speaker 2: prior to the strike at this point is listed as
Speaker 2: one day, but could this then be extended for an
Speaker 2: indeterminate amount of time and just go on into in
Speaker 2: perpetuity until your demands have been met.
Speaker 3: Them? You know, again, our negotiations team is willing and
Speaker 3: wanting to reach an agreement before any type of decision
Speaker 3: like that is made, because the nurses really want to
Speaker 3: take care of our patients. That's what we really want
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this, what is morale like among
Speaker 2: many of the nurses that you work with, those who
Speaker 2: you speak with. I have some friends full disclosure, who
Speaker 2: do work at Long Beach Memorial, and I know what
Speaker 2: they say to me about their level of frustration. What
Speaker 2: is it you here beyond what you experience.
Speaker 3: The nurses that I have experienced. The feeling is we
Speaker 3: all want the same things. We want scatting to improve.
Speaker 3: We want our paces to be taken care of in
Speaker 3: a safe manner, and we want to provide a safe
Speaker 3: place for the patients and for the nurse.
Speaker 2: Is at the end of the day, before I let
Speaker 2: you go, Metric Gails, I wonder have you found any
Speaker 2: solidarity or support from the other staff at the hospital.
Speaker 2: I mean from doctors, I don't know, radiologists, anyone else
Speaker 2: who may work alongside by side with you in the
Speaker 2: hospital Long Beach Memorial. What have they been saying? Are
Speaker 2: they willing to stand with you on any level?
Speaker 3: I can say more that there is a great deal
Speaker 3: of solidarity for this particular action and for the want
Speaker 3: that our nurses have put forth.
Speaker 2: She is Netric Gails, registered nurse at Long Beach Memorial
Speaker 2: and I would say a representative of the fight to
Speaker 2: improve nursing conditions at Long Beach Medical Center. Metric Gaels
Speaker 2: I have been following this issue from AFAR, but now
Speaker 2: I'm a little bit more closely involved in a associated
Speaker 2: and watching it evolve. Can we have you back on
Speaker 2: the future in the future so we can further follow
Speaker 2: up on this.
Speaker 3: Nod If you would call me, I would come absolutely.
Speaker 2: We'll have you again. It's Later with Mo Kelly. We're
Speaker 2: live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and also on YouTube
Speaker 2: at mister mo Kelly m R M O K E.
Speaker 3: L L Y.
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