In Face of Hostile Bargaining and Intimidation by Management, Mills-Peninsula to Vote to Author... ( Nurses to Discuss Management's Retal...)

In Face of Hostile Bargaining and Intimidation by Management, Mills-Peninsula to Vote to Authorize Strike

Date:3/3/2008

Nurses to Discuss Management's Retaliatory Tactics, Patient Care Problems

at 12 Noon Media Availability Today

5,000 Nurses at 11 Facilities to Vote to Authorize Strike

OAKLAND, Calif., March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- In an atmosphere that nurses describe as attempted "intimidation" from Sutter Health, RNs at Mills-Peninsula Health Services will vote today and tomorrow to authorize their bargaining teams to strike the hospital chain for up to 10 days over serious issues of patient safety and patient care, as well as healthcare for nurses, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee reports today. They will hold a media availability at noon today to discuss the internal intimidation campaign that the hospital is attempting as the vote nears.

Nurses at California Pacific Medical Center and Sutter Solano last week were the first to vote to again reject the "last, best, and final" proposal by Sutter, which has not changed significantly in months, and nurses from the rest of the facilities will hold strike authorization votes this week.

WHAT: Media Availability on Attempted Intimidation of Nurses, Strike

Vote

WHERE: Mills-Peninsula Health Services, 101 S. San Mateo Dr., San

Mateo

WHEN: Monday, March 3, 2008, 12 Noon

Sharon Tobin, a nurse at the facility, described the situation like this:

"Now in response to increased activism by the RNs, the administration at

MPHS has decided to try to silence them and limit their access to

information ... The intimidation that went on from managers in the

medical surgical units has spilled over to the rest of the facility.

Administration now has ... posted a security guard at the entrance to

the Family Birth Center to spy on the activist RNs there. However, these