Our Bargaining Team for Registered Nurses at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center, Riverside Community Hospital and West Hills Hospital & Medical Center met with HCA management for two days this week. During the first day of contract negotiations team members from all three hospitals reached tentative agreements with management on several existing contract articles.
During bargaining on Aug. 6, the team broke out into a separate Riverside and West Hills group to meet with management regarding our proposal for a Clinical Ladder program.
“Our
negotiations over the Clinical Ladder will focus on the true value of registered nurses, while also providing potential for an RN’s growth both financially and professionally.”
– Kathleen Burke, ER, West Hills
A Clinical Ladder program involves recognition and compensation for going above and beyond a nurse’s job description. It benefits both the hospital and RN by increasing participating nurses’ skill set and knowledge. For the nurse, there is generally a financial incentive of 3 to 5 percent more pay for moving up to the next clinical level.
Clinical Ladder programs can have many components and achieving the next level can be earned through different activities such as:
- Specialty certifications
- Healthcare-related volunteer work
- Participation in hospital-based committees
- Providing training to other nurses
- Research and study
Our RCH and West Hills team members are using the current Los Robles Clinical Ladder program as a template for our proposal. We know HCA management has seen how successful the Los Robles program has been for patients, the hospital and nurses.