@MrMoKelly & The Long Beach Memorial RN Strike

ICYMI: ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – A conversation with Nedra Gayles, RN ~ ‘Labor & Delivery Nurse, MemorialCare Miller Children's & Women's Hospital Long Beach,’ who joins the program with an in-depth look at the one-day strike announced by Registered Nurses at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center (LBMC) - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app & YouTube @MrMoKelly

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on Demand from
KFI AM six forty.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
With moo Kelly onk AM six. Registered nurses at Memorial
Care Long Beach Medical Center gave notice to their employer
back on May eighth that they will hold a one
day strike starting at seven am on May twenty second,
to protest the hospital's refusal to what they call a

(00:34):
dishonest engagement in good faith negotiations over needed improvements to
patient care, nurse working conditions and staffing. Joining us right
now on Later with mo Kelly is registered nurse Nedra
Gails to give us some sense or at least on
the side of nurses, what is going on both inside
the hospital and outside of it as far as negotiations.

(00:56):
Neda Gails is nice to have you on the show tonight.
How are you, Thank you, Moe.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
I'm doing well.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
How should I describe how desperate or I should say
how concerned nurses are at the working conditions at Long
Beach Memorial.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, the primary reason for the nurses going on strike
is for the sake of our patients and also for ourselves,
you know, our our protests is it's towards the management

(01:38):
for their refusal to just address the concerns that the
nurses have regarding safe patient care, staffing, workplace violence protections,
and you know, just the overall well being of the

(01:59):
pace population that we cared for at Memorial and other children.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Do I have this correct? That there was a negotiation
which was planned for late last week and instead of
the negotiation they handed out pink slips to various nurses.
Is that correct?

Speaker 3 (02:19):
The negotiation was set for last Friday and our management
team decided not to appear. Our nurse negotiation team did
it follow through and we were present at the table

(02:40):
ready to meet and discuss and hopefully come together with
a contract that was very inequitable, but again the management
of the hospital decided that they would not come.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Tell me out what's it like on an average day
in Long Beach Memorial because of these issues? Are nurses
being overworked? Are they not getting the type of support
and support staff that they need? What are some of
the central issues which is having nurses speak out and
also protests, picket and eventually go on strike May twenty second.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
So mo, what we are asking for regarding the safe
staffing is, you know, we want to be able to
take care of our patients the best way we can,
and when we have units that are not fully staffed,

(03:46):
patients are waiting for long periods of time for care
in our emergency departments. Those kinds of situations are concerning
to the nurses and to the community.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Now that you are shorter staffed, because I know there
have been layoffs, what is the concern, In other words,
are there going to be any gaps in patient help
or patient care between now and the twenty second because
of these recent layoffs.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
So because of one of the things that we're asking
for with regards to our protests, it does have to
do with services being cut to the community. An example
is our outpatient children's clinics. Because of these layoffs that

(04:44):
you mentioned of, some of those services are quite possibly
not going to continue the way that the community has
known them. A prime example is the closing of of
the outpatient Children's Village pharmacy, where a lot of the

(05:06):
children that are seen in those clinics, they are having
to get their medications from outside pharmacies that they're not
familiar with, and some of the specialized medications are harder
to attain.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
If you're just tuning in, my guest right now is
Nedra Gails, who is a registered nurse working at Long
Beach Memorial. We're talking about how nurses have given notice
to their employer that on May twenty second, they plan
to go on a one day strike starting at seven
am on May twenty second, to bring more like to

(05:43):
negotiations with it, which at this point have been stalled
over needed improvements to patient care, working conditions and staffing.
And Netje let me pick up there on May twenty second.
If things progress as they seem to be progressing, what
does that one day strike look like? And how many
nurses are we talking about? Everyone? How does the hospital

(06:06):
continue to function without your work.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
So well? One of the big deals about this strike.
We proposed a one day strike starting on May twenty
second and ending the night of May twenty second. The
management of the hospital has elected to lock us out

(06:38):
until well for four days, so it'll be a tool
of five days that you know we will be away
from the bedside.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Does that let me jump in there? Does that mean
that patients will be lacking for care or will they
be bringing in other nurses from other locations or other
physicians assistance if you will to cover the gap while
you are not working there during that time.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
So during the time that we are out on strike,
the hospital management has made the decision to bring in replacement,
and it comes on that decision comes on the heels
of the approximately eighty nurses that have been laid off,

(07:33):
and it gives kind of a mixed what's the word like?
It gives us Yeah, because the hospital is investing in
outside workforce when there have been nurses that have been

(07:56):
laid off from their jobs, and then we we're willing
and are willing to come back to work after our protests. No,
it doesn't really like balance. Now.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
I don't want to get to a far ahead of
what your union is proposing to do. But in a
general sense, if we continue on this path and management
at Long Beach Memorial is reluctant to negotiate, or does
not start restart negotiations, or does not meet your demands
prior to the strike at this point is listed as

(08:32):
one day, but could this then be extended for an
indeterminate amount of time and just go on into in
perpetuity until your demands have been met.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Them? You know, again, our negotiations team is willing and
wanting to reach an agreement before any type of decision
like that is made, because the nurses really want to
take care of our patients. That's what we really want

(09:07):
to do.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
Let me ask you this, what is morale like among
many of the nurses that you work with, those who
you speak with. I have some friends full disclosure, who
do work at Long Beach Memorial, and I know what
they say to me about their level of frustration. What
is it you here beyond what you experience.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
The nurses that I have experienced. The feeling is we
all want the same things. We want scatting to improve.
We want our paces to be taken care of in

(09:51):
a safe manner, and we want to provide a safe
place for the patients and for the nurse.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Is at the end of the day, before I let
you go, Metric Gails, I wonder have you found any
solidarity or support from the other staff at the hospital.
I mean from doctors, I don't know, radiologists, anyone else
who may work alongside by side with you in the
hospital Long Beach Memorial. What have they been saying? Are

(10:22):
they willing to stand with you on any level?

Speaker 3 (10:26):
I can say more that there is a great deal
of solidarity for this particular action and for the want
that our nurses have put forth.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
She is Netric Gails, registered nurse at Long Beach Memorial
and I would say a representative of the fight to
improve nursing conditions at Long Beach Medical Center. Metric Gaels
I have been following this issue from AFAR, but now
I'm a little bit more closely involved in a associated
and watching it evolve. Can we have you back on

(11:03):
the future in the future so we can further follow
up on this.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Nod If you would call me, I would come absolutely.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
We'll have you again. It's Later with Mo Kelly. We're
live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and also on YouTube
at mister mo Kelly m R M O K E.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
L L Y.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI A M six forty