On Sunday, former State Senator Sheila Kuehl, on learning nurses at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica were planning to hold a one-day strike Wednesday as a means of bringing hospital officials to the table to resolve their differences, emailed both the nurses and the officials, offering to serve as their mediator.

Kuehl is in Hawaii, but plans to return to Santa Monica on June 18.

The nurses, via their union, Colorado Nurses Association, responded quickly, agreeing to call off the scheduled strike,and await Kuehl’s return and her effort to mediate an end to the long-running dispute. (see story below).

When we heard nothing from St. John’s officials by this morning, we contacted them. Shortly thereafter, we received the following statement from Sarah Phelan, St. John’s Manager of Communications, Marketing and Business Development Department.

“We appreciate Senator Kuehl offering to serve as a mediator. However, a professional mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services (FMCS) has been assigned to this matter. Accordingly, we are respectfully declining her offer. If there is to be any involvement of a mediator, it should be the mediator assigned to this case by the FMCS.”

When the Nurses’ union learned of the hospital’s
rejection of Kuehl’s suggestion, it replied,
“Senator Kuehl is one of the best mediators in Southern California. But we’ll will work with the FMCS mediator or any other qualified mediator to resolve this dispute.”