Nurses protest in their pajamas

Nurses in their nighties? It sounds like the start of a provocative letter to Penthouse magazine.

But the nurses from Desert Springs and Valley hospitals who showed up outside their workplaces this chilly morning clad only in their pajamas were dealing not with fantasy but a stark reality -- claims that they are being overworked in dangerously long shifts.

"We are forced to work so many extra shifts, we figure we might as well start sleeping at the hospitals," said Noreen Roberts, a registered nurse at Desert Springs who was working today and could not attend the protest for the Nevada Service Employees International Union Local 1107.

"It is one thing working under combat situations where this would be acceptable, but it is not acceptable for daily staffing," Jerri Woolston, a union nurse, said.

"We have nurses working 80 hours a week -- 40 hours regular and 40 hours on call, away from their families and children," registered nurse Theresa Morrow, chairman of the health care oversight committee for the union, said.

The nurses are protesting mandatory on-call shifts that the hospitals are requiring them to work -- in addition to regular hours.

Tom Beatty, executive director of the nurse's union, said nurses are paid $2 per hour for every hour they are on call and receive time and a half for every on-call hour they actually work. He said, however, this is not a money issue but rather an issue of working at peak efficiency.

The union currently is in contract negotiations with the owners of Desert Springs and Valley hospitals. Valley Health System is a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania-based Universal Health Services -- the nation's third largest for-profit hospital chain.

Attempts to reach Universal Health Services today were unsuccessful.

Union officials say the large company has the money to pay for more staffing, but hiring more nurses would cut into its profits.

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