Nurses Send Sutter a Clear Message( RNs at 10 Northern Calif. hospitals...),Health

RNs at 10 Northern Calif. hospitals vote to authorize strike for patient

care

OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Registered nurses at all 10 Northern California Sutter Health hospitals currently in bargaining have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if an agreement with the hospital chain is not reached, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announced today. There has been no progress in bargaining over the core issues of the contract, which includes important patient safety concerns, adequate RN staffing, and protection for nurse healthcare coverage.

RNs at Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame and San Mateo, San Leandro Hospital and Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley all voted Wednesday and Thursday to join their colleagues at Sutter Delta in Antioch, Sutter Solano in Vallejo, California Pacific Medical Center and St. Luke's hospitals in San Francisco, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland, Sutter Santa Rosa, Sutter Marin General Hospital and Sutter Novato Hospital in authorizing a strike.

The votes throughout the system come as a result of proposals that are inferior to Northern California standards in patient care protections and sweeping reductions in healthcare coverage for the RNs. CNA/NNOC represents over 5,000 RNs in 14 Northern California Sutter hospitals.

"In negotiations, Sutter denies that inadequate staffing is an issue at their facilities, but in these votes nurses have spoken loud and clear," said Jan Rodolfo, an RN who works in the cancer unit at Summit, and is a member of the CNA nurse negotiating team. "No one understands what staffing we need to provide safe patient care better than bedside nurses."

"It's notable that the same patient care issues and concerns are seen at all 10 hospitals, which appears to reflect the corporate influence of the importance of the bottom line at the sacrifice
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