Keck USC nurses walk out over staffing, missed breaks

Staffing issues and missed breaks were at the center of a nurses’ strike at Keck Hospital of USC on Thursday morning in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Unionized registered nurses from Keck Hospital and USC Norris Cancer Hospital gathered outside, holding signs demanding “A fair contract” as part of a 24-hour strike.

“Last year alone, we had 10,000 missed meals and 4,000 missed rest periods,” California Nurses Association bargaining team member and ICU nurse Kerri Dodgens told KTLA’s Omar Lewis outside the hospital.  “We are a really higher-level hospital and have really sick patients. We need our nurses on their top game, not nurses that haven’t had a meal in 10 hours.”

Keck Medicine of USC said hospital and clinic operations would remain open and fully staffed on Thursday, and that they comply with state-required nurse staffing ratios.

“Importantly, our current contract proposal includes an increase in resource staff so nurses can more properly rest and recharge during their shifts,” the statement read.

Dodgens said Keck Medicine negotiators have refused to meet with the union since the strike notice was issued 10 days ago, and that the hospital is being staffed with nurses unfamiliar with the hospital, “which to me puts patients at risk.”

The nurses plan to return to work on Friday, but until then, patients may notice a difference.

“Things will be different,” Dodgens said. “They say that Keck nurses are limitless, and we are top tier; these scab nurses are not top tier. They’re not our nurses, and if you can, I would maybe try to push it off and not come today.”