Members of the California Nurses Association voted "no confidence" in both the Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital board and the administration, the union confirmed to Becker's June 26.
The union said the vote is not a vote in an electoral sense, but rather a petition of supporters. For this petition, the CNA estimates gathering more than 200 signatures over the last few weeks.
"Nurses are demanding the hospital board work with community members to end the cuts to services at Hazel Hawkins," the union said. "The [intensive care unit] at the hospital has been closed for more than three weeks because there is not sufficient staff, there have been delays in pharmacy and supply contracts. In addition, the hospital has moved to freeze pensions, cut education credits (important as there is no education provided at the hospital), and cut other agreed upon union benefits."
Diane Beck, BSN, RN, a nurse in the surgical department at Hollister, Calif.-based Hazel Hawkins and the chief nurse representative at the hospital for the CNA, specifically references a June 15 letter from the hospital, which she shared with BenitoLink.
"This notice is to inform you of important changes to the San Benito Health Care District pension plan sponsored by the San Benito Health Care District. The plan has been amended to cease all future benefit accruals for all participants, effective as of July 1, 2023. This means that your plan benefit will be frozen and will not grow beyond the level earned as of the effective date," the letter states, according to the publication.
The letter also states: "All benefit accruals under the normal retirement benefit formula will cease, and no new participants will become covered under the plan. In other words, the amount of your benefit will be 'frozen' at the level it reaches as of the effective date, based on your compensation and service history as of that date."
Additionally, the letter addressed education leave.
"Effective July 1, 2023, the district will offer education Leave in an amount necessary for employees to meet their continuing education obligations for licensure renewal in the state of California for the position in which they are employed by the district. Education leave hours will no longer accrue and are not cashed out," the letter states, according to BenitoLink.
Ms. Beck and other union members have told BenitoLink they believe the letter would violate a 2018 letter of understanding and resolution the board at that time approved to protect the union nurses. According to the publication, the letter specified that within 60 days of a sale or similar event, the hospital would provide the CNA with the contact information for the new owner or operator.
San Benito Health Care District, the board overseeing Hazel Hawkins, voted in May to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, citing a need to "tackle the systemic challenges it continues to face."
Marcus Young, spokesperson for the district and Hazel Hawkins, said in a statement June 26 that neither is experiencing supply or pharmaceutical shortages. He added that patients who come to the hospital in need of intensive care services are being transferred to other facilities and addressed the decision to file for bankruptcy.
"First, it allows us to remain open and operational as a healthcare provider," he said. "Second, it allows us to tackle some of the systemic financial problems that we could not handle outside of Chapter 9, including healthcare premiums and pension considerations, and finally, it signals to interested parties that we were making the effort to address our long-term financial issues."
Mr. Young also took issue with the union's assertion that the district and hospital's "numbers over the last five years have been fairly stable."
"The union's assertion that the HHMH and the district have significant cash on hand because we are currently showing a positive cash flow fail to understand some of the important facts about our cash situation as of today," Mr. Young said. "First, the current cash flow projections represent early one-time payments that we have already collected; extreme cost savings measures that we have already made use of but will not be ongoing; and the simple fact that a healthcare district like ours needs to have at least 100 days of operating cash on hand at all times to be considered solvent. We are not there yet."
The union said nurses are hosting a town hall July 6 to raise awareness about their concerns.