LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Union members are holding protests at Las Vegas area hospitals this week, claiming they’re dealing with unsafe working conditions at area hospitals.
SEIU 1107 is a union representing healthcare and public service employees across Nevada. About a dozen SEIU members stood outside Southern Hills Hospital Wednesday with signs and a list of demands, including free COVID-19 testing and hazard pay for healthcare workers.
“We need masks that can be used how they were designed and how they were safety tested- single use. We need gowns that are single use to use one time and not hang outside a room and use over and over,” said a union member who says she’s a nurse at a local HCA affiliated hospital. She didn’t want to include her name to protect her employment status.
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The union member says she’s worried lack of protective gear puts her and her family at risk.
“We need to know that when we show up to take care of our city, of our neighbors, of our friends, that we’re going to be safe when we come home to our families,” the union member added.
Josielyn James is an ER charge nurse at Southern Hills Hospital. She says she questions the union’s motives.
“It’s really sad during these times we should really be working together and not really using contract negotiations as a way to say hospitals aren’t being supported, which they can not say. It’s absolutely wrong,” James said.
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James says front line workers at Southern Hills Hospital are satisfied with their pandemic pay options and do not agree with the members of SEIU.
“We have not once ran out of PPE’s, we have always felt 100 percent supported by our bosses and our staff and administration. We can get any type of PPE that we need,” James said.
A union rep says SEIU has two more protests planned. They’ll meet Thursday outside of Mountain View Hospital and Friday outside of Sunrise Hospital.
