Posted on 03/21/2008 7:37:14 AM PDT by SmithL
Hundreds of registered nurses walked off the job at 7 a.m. today to begin a 10-day strike against Bay Area hospitals affiliated with Sutter Health.
This is the third such walk-out in less than six months and it will be by far the longest.
Similar strikes in October and December lasted two days each.
The 10 affected hospitals have hired replacement nurses and will remain open.
"We should have this down pat by now," said Jonnie Banks, a spokeswoman for Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley.
"It's business as usual," she said. "That includes our trauma center. Our mission here is to ensure quality patient care."
The 190 nurses hired to fill in at Eden and San Leandro Hospital were undergoing orientation Thursday.
Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch is bringing in 75 replacements.
"We expect everything to run just as smoothly as it has in the past," spokeswoman Angela Lombardi said. "We're not closing anything. We're not canceling anything."
The length of the strike ensures a heftier price tag this time for both the hospitals and the nurses who will go without pay.
Hospital leaders said they could not estimate how much the walk-out will cost Sutter Health.
Lombardi said striking nurses at Sutter Delta stand to lose $3,200 or more in wages.
Nurses believe the loss will be worth it if they can improve patient care, said Jan Rodolfo, a registered nurse at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland.
"There is no strike fund," Rodolfo said. "Nurses and their families are making a significant sacrifice to strike for 10 days."
Major unresolved issues include improved meal and break relief, safe lifting procedures, health and retirement benefits, Rodolfo said.
"We've already done two short strikes and there hasn't been any significant movement whatsoever," said Jennifer Ball, a registered nurse at Eden. "We're tired of our working environment."
The nurses are represented by the California Nurses Association/ National Nurses Organizing Committee.
Hospital leaders portray the dispute as being more about the union's desire for expanded organizing rights than patient care.
"CNA is after more union members and more dues money," Banks said. "That is the crux of the strike."
If CNA can recruit the 3,000 Sutter Health nurses who are not unionized, it could boost its membership dues by $4 million, Sutter estimates.
Rodolfo counters that such statements are a sign that hospital leaders have not been listening to the nurses.
"They like to try to divert attention by focusing on union issues rather than nurses' issues," she said.
The affected hospitals include Sutter Delta, Alta Bates Summit, Eden, San Leandro Hospital, Sutter Solano in Vallejo, and Mills-Peninsula in Burlingame and San Mateo.
Each hospital is conducting its own negotiations with the union, which means proposals vary.
During the previous two strikes, many of the hospitals locked out nurses for several days after the walk-out ended.
But Banks said she does not anticipate a lock-out at the end of this one.
Fire every last one of them. Renegotiate employment for those who return to work within a set period of time. Everyone else will be locked out. Problem solved, PERMANENTLY.
Ignore all labor laws too, right?
Don’t bother. Some people just can’t accept the concept of collective bargaining for labor. Somehow, collective bargaining for capital is fine.
Three strikes in six months? Declare the contract void and cancel it. There’s no labor law that says you have to negotiate with a union. If they can hire nurses to cover the ones striking, they can hire nurses on a one-on-one basis. Still, if it’s California, the labor laws may be much different, I don’t know.
Looks like travel nurses are going to make a bundle off the hospital.
“Fire every last one of them.”
That’s what I’d do, but I can tell you from personal experience that you better be able to do it in at least six different languages.
Honestly, about one in three speaks English. I know, I’ve been there. Sutter General in Sacramento is the worst hospital I’ve ever seen when it comes to communicating with the patients. Even the Doctors? are “English challenged.”
Our son’s wife (I can’t bring myself to call her a daughter-in-law) was a Fetal Alchohol Syndrome baby and has the mentality of a 14 year old. She took nursing classes from one those TV advertised trade schools and passed! I still can’t believe that they allow her to handle sharp items like needles and such. There is a huge shortage of nurses in CA. Lesson: If traveling to California, do your best to stay healthy and out of hospitals, if you wish to stay alive, that is.
“FIRE ‘EM ALL”!!!!!!
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