Nurses plan walkout at 7 Sutter Health hospitals

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Nurses at seven Sutter Health hospitals in the Bay Area are set to walk out for a one-day strike Tuesday, their union's fifth labor action since September.

As many as 3,500 nurses may participate in the strike, the California Nurses Association said.

The union and Sutter management have been negotiating a new contract for nearly a year, but are still at odds over sick leave, overtime and health benefits, the union said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Nurses-plan-walkout-at-7-Sutter-Health-hospitals-3679841.php

[tavalon]

1. It would amaze and horrify you guys to know what they offer nurses to be scabs

I was a travel nurse at a Sutter hospital many years ago and unfortunately didn't have the protection of unionization.

Needless to say, no amount of money would make me consider crossing a picket line of my fellow nurses. No way, no how.

[Honeycombe8]

2. The article doesn't give all details, but says the nurses have rec'd 22% pay increase last 3 yrs?

And they're going to strike for more? But the article doesn't say if they've had big cuts in health care ins., pension packages, or something else.

But to strike after receiving 22% pay increase the last 3 years, right after a recession, in the midst of anti-unionism, is short-sighted, at best. Stupid, at worst.

[CreekDog]

3. well your mind is made up, and without any input from the nurses (do you think nurses are greedy?)

after you answer that, let me ask you if you think hospital corporations are more or less greedy than nurses?


http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/entry/3500-bay-area-sutter-nurses-to-strike-tuesday/

Concession demands at various Sutter hospitals (partial list):

Eliminating paid sick leave, effectively forcing nurses to work when ill, exposing already frail and vulnerable patients to further infection
Huge increases in nurses’ out-of-pocket costs for health coverage for themselves and family members
Limits on the ability of charge nurses, who make clinical assignments for nurses, to address staffing shortages, subjecting patients to the danger of unsafe staffing
Forcing RNs to work overtime, exposing patients to care from fatigued nurses who are more prone to making medical errors
Eliminating retiree health plans
Eliminating all health coverage for nurses who work fewer than 30 hours per week
Reduced pregnancy and family medical leave, undermining RN families
Sutter’s record of abandonment at the hospitals affected by the strike (partial list):

End breast cancer screening for women with disabilities and most bone marrow transplant services for cancer patients at Alta Bates Summit in Oakland and Berkeley
Closure of a sub-acute unit for patients with long-term disabilities in Berkeley
Closure of the Cardiac Catherization Lab at the Ashby Campus
Closure of Outpatient Infusion at the Herrick Campus
Sharply cut psychiatric care at Herrick Hospital in Berkeley
Plans to close San Leandro Hospital, an announcement apparently delayed only by Sutter’s efforts to persuade San Francisco officials to support a controversial project at Cathedral Hill
Close acute rehabilitation services, skilled nursing care, and psychiatric services, and substantially downgrade nursery care for sick children at Eden Hospital in Castro Valley
Close specialized pediatric care, acute rehabilitation, dialysis, and skilled nursing care services at the Mills and Peninsula hospitals in Burlingame and San Mateo and upcoming closure of the emergency room at the Mills campus

[Honeycombe8]

8. My post asked about the "other benefits," if you had read it.

I said, "But the article doesn't say if they've had big cuts in health care ins., pension packages, or something else." Wondering what the basis for the strike is, since it's not salary.

Your response is to be snippy, but, finally, the facts that I was wondering about.

Just to QUESTION the union is a risky proposition, apparently.

[hunter]

4. Sutter CEO Patrick Fry is making $4 million a year

The poor fellow's base salary was $1,278,749 in 2008.

Is he working so much harder these days?

Whenever nursing pay rises, nurses are expected to do much more work with less support, often at the expense of their patients' and their own well being.

Management agrees to pay more, but then they replace skilled workers with lower paid, less-skilled workers and crack the whip harder.

That's life in the USA, where success is measured by the size of the boss's paycheck, even if he's running the place into the ground.

[harun]

5. You clearly have all the information to make an informed judgment.

[yellowcanine]

6. Completely unfair and simplistic analysis. It is not about pay.

Sutter continues to insist on more than 100 widespread, unwarranted reductions despite racking up nearly $4.2 billion in profits since 2005 and holding $11.6 billion in assets. Among the many proposed takeaways are eliminating paid sick leave, which would effectively force RNs to work when ill, dangerously exposing patients with compromised immune systems to further infection, as well as huge increases in nurses’ out-of-pocket costs for their own health coverage.

Who thinks it is a good idea to take away sick leave for healthcare workers and reduce staffing levels in hospitals? No one except someone only concerned about money, not patient care. And if they are willing to do that, what other corners are they trying to cut?

[Honeycombe8]

7. You didn't read my post, did you? I asked about other benefits that may have been reduced.

It's never popular here even to question or ask for facts regarding a union strike.

If the union won't give facts, then the public is left with what facts are out there. As I said, the only fact the article gives is that the nurses got a 22% raise in the last few years.

I don't know that the assets & profits of an employer matters much. If the employer isn't doing well, does that justify not paying the going salary for a nurse? Or do you think they'd get employed elsewhere, where they get paid the norm?

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

9. Here's liink to the Union webpage

http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/entry/3500-bay-area-sutter-nurses-to-strike-tuesday/