Ed. Note: Story by Jessica Boyer and Perry Smith.

Henry Mayo Memorial Hospital nurses held a town hall meeting Wednesday evening to share testimony with doctors and Santa Clarita community leaders about their contract negotiations, officials said Thursday.

The hold up for both sides has been the contractual condition proposed by the Henry Mayo officials, which addresses the California Nurses Union and hospital administrators agree to resolve grievances with the hospital.

Hospital officials want the nurses to agree to arbitration, which would allow the hospital to resolve disputes through an agreed-upon third-party negotiator. Nurses’ union officials said the offer represents a threat to their constitutional rights to use the legal system to resolve a workplace dispute.

“We’re confident that we will prevail but the employer is holding up the nurses contracts,” Hanna said.

Hospital officials have repeatedly denied the union’s claims that the new deal would deny the hospital’s nurses any chance to bring forth a concern.

“We are available whenever they would like to meet. We have been waiting for them,” said Patrick Moody, director of Marketing and Public Relations. “The main thing for us is that we’re very eager to resume negotiation. We very much hope nurses will give us some proposed date to get back to the bargaining table.”

California Nurses Union officials invited a panel consisting of city of Santa Clarita Councilman TimBen Boydston, Dr. Gene Dorio and a CNU rep, said Cynthia Hanna, lead labor representative for the CNU and National Nurses United. About 50 nurses and community members attended the meeting, held at the Valencia Public Library.

“Nurses provided testimonies regarding how they felt about being asked to waive their rights and general testimony about how it is to work for the employer,” Hanna said. “Many cited lack of respect to nurses and the doctors agreed with that. The main agenda item was the demand that the union, on behalf of the nurses, waive their rights.”

The new arbitration agreement mandates any grievance be filed within 10 days, making it harder for a nurse to make the kind of case necessary to prove systemic discrimination, said Robbie Bailey, a member of the CNA who’s been active in past contract negotiations.. The new deal would take away the efficacy of the complaints’ “cumulative effect.”

“In essence, while (the nurses union) has had a pattern of making inaccurate and inflammatory statements about negotiations, the truth is that we have a good deal on the table…” said Vice President and Chief of Human Resources Officer for Henry Mayo, Mark Puleo, insinuating the union’s refusal was motivated by political concerns beyond hospital operations, not patient care, in a previous interview.

“We are ready to meet with CNU representatives at any time,” Puleo said, in a previous interview, “and we sincerely hope they will prepare a counter-proposal and schedule another bargaining session soon.”

While both sides are still in negotiations, there has been no significant progress since the nurses did refused an April 29 offer, due to the aforementioned arbitration clause.

The nurses threatened a one-day walkout May 1, but called off the move April 24 ahead of those negotiations.

The nurses union at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital has been without a contract since January.