Members of California Nurses Association and National Nurses United are holding a one-day strike Thursday at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Miller Children's Hospital, California's second largest private hospital and one of its most profitable corporate hospital chains, to dispute patient care protections and corporate hospital demands.
The strike is impacting 2,000 RNs at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., as well as 4,000 RNs employed at nine Bay Area facilities that are part of the Sutter Corporation.
Long Beach RNs are in dispute with hospital management over assuring a safe RN-to-patient staffing ratio is present at all times and the hospital's refusal to establish safe patient lift policies, regardless of the requirement by state law. Long Beach nurses also oppose hospital demands for higher health care premiums, which would cost RNs nearly $3,000 more in out-of-pocket costs.
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At the Sutter hospitals, nurses are protesting about 150 demands for major contract concessions regarding patient protections and health coverage for the RNs and their families. This week Sutter did not respond to the nurses' offer to cancel the strike if the corporation withdrew its concession demands.
Part of Sutter's concessions includes no sick leave for nurses, which, the nurses say, exposes ill patients to infections. Sutter RNs are also against management's concession to cut nurses' health care coverage and increase out-of-pocket costs.
"Sutter's proposal to eliminate sick leave will force nurses to come to work sick, which will further jeopardize our fragile patients," says Hebron Viray, oncology RN at Sutter's Alta Bates' Summit Medical Center.
The RNs plan to continue their protest against Sutter's concessions throughout Northern California.
"Our serious safety concerns have not been answered at the bargaining table, and we will not be able to reach an agreement until they are addressed. Patients are more important than the bottom line," says RN leader Margie Keenan.
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