Striker Diary 2

Day 8:

Days Off: We strikers are picketing 5 days and taking
2 days off. Mine were Sunday & Monday.

It really helped being way from the stress. Those were the only 2 nice days in September.
I heard a lot of the strikers took Sunday off from the line. That could be a good thing.
The neighbors got a break from the noise. While many of them have been horrible, some have been supportive.

Today was payday. We were all paid a $400.00 strike
check which the union claims is tax free. I guess that we
will be paid weekly. They were efficient at getting
every striker their checks.

I was worried about one older striker who came to the
picket line every day, but could not handle the 6.5
hours in very cold weather. She still got paid--which
she did not expect.

It was a good move on the union. They beat a letter sent
by management saying that workers who received regular
paychecks from work done before the strike would have
to pick them up at the security office in the bank of
America bldg. And they can only enter one person at a
time. I have direct deposit but might still go on a
trip to the bank if we do it as a group. It would be
good to rattle the cages of The Bank Of Apartheid.
The strike pay is critical to keeping the workers on
the line. People need to eat.

Speaking of eating the union has been bring food every
day.

We have a charcoal grill which is some how legal. If
you saw the smoke you would understand my doubts.

We had hot food today. That hit the spot with the icy
breeze and occasional rain drops.

A doctor whose office is sadly located near, but not
affiliated with our hospital, has been bothered by the
noise. He researched the bull horns and claims that
they are 5 Watts above the legal limit. They had
union there to analyze the situation. Sound is the
double edge sword in this fight. It is really
creating a commotion (which is good) but it is
bringing conflict from the community (or its richest
1%).

People talked about their days off on the line. One
of the psyc Techs who I haven't mentioned before said
she went to a draft horse festival which turned into a
long discussion of people and their animals.

Some of the people who are in school studied or went
to class on their "days off". The presence of the
strike doesn't really go away on the days off. You
really can't spend money, but one does any how, and
then feel stressed about it.

I need to get a second job during the strike. As an
aide I must have had a physical within one year to
apply for a medical job.

I had mine on Monday. My blood pressure was higher
than usual and so was my heart rate. I tested it
myself earlier that day. My usual heart rate is like
70 and Monday it was 100 while resting. I did deep
breathing and I think it was in the 80's. I have cut
back on caffiene. My usual was 2 double lattes and a regular coffee and maybe a cola.
I have cut back to one cup of coffee a day. This is a bad thing!

I think I have been hired to do 4 hours a day of
hospice care for a man who might have one month to
live. I can do this job if the strike ends. I couldn’t ditch this family.
They remind me of my family when my Father was dying.

I would be nice to help some one and stop stressing.
I know striking does my myself and others but it
doesn't feel the same. Every job has its rituals, I
knock on every door and say ,"hello my name is..."
when meeting every patient. I have been catching
myself saying the "My Name Is..." thing to barristas
and cashiers. Needless to say this startles them.

As I was leaving some of the strikers were going to
the Board of Supervisors meeting to thank them for
their support. Thanking politicians kind of creeps me
out. However the Board has been great. A bunch of them
have walked the picket line and spoke at rallies.
Okay only when the TV cameras were there. But I think
the TV cameras followed them more than the other way
around.

I need to get some paper work from my doctor that
wasn't availible when I had my last minute
physical--thank the universe for cancellations!

I will arrive at the picket line late but I have
friends coming to picket with me which makes the line
at little less cold.

Day 9:

Hi Everyone,

The strike that started on September 13th keeps going.

Before I recap the events of Wednesday (21st), there
is the matter of one correction.

I thought one of the security companies was called
PAIN, Inc. Alas it was too good (or too bad) to be
true. We saw 2 different squads of security people.
One was big guys in suits and one was almost as big
guys in uniforms.

The "security" detail arrives in Black SUVs. One of
them that crossed the picket line and brought people
into the hospital had a big "PAIN, Inc" sticker on the
bottom of its rear window. I could not find a
security company by that name but there is an EXTREME
sports company by that name. Apparently one of the
drivers is into EXTREME sports. My apologies to PAIN,
Inc by associating them with an anti-worker company.

People can read more about the SCAB master Gary Fanger
in the current issue of the SF BAY Guardian.
http://www.sfbg.com/39/51/news_scab_master.html

Today was pretty vocal and active on the picket line.
It was a nice sunny day. I got a little burned (the
sun as well as management).

The first thing someone whispered to me on the picket
line was, "are you the blog guy?" BUSTED!!!

In between rounds of chants and bullhorns people come
up with little games to avoid getting bored. One is
wrong way lottery. The portion of Clay Street leading
to the east side of the hospital is one way. At least
5 or 6 cars an hour drive up the wrong way including
the CPMC hospital shuttle. We spent a good deal of
time trying to come up with a prize worthy of guessing
the exact amount of cars that go the wrong way .
Someone suggested a purple SEIU jacket. And I wanted
to know if we could count the people who drive the
wrong way in reverse--so far only one was spotted. If
it is driving backwards, then clearly photographic
evidence is useless ;)

This wrong way driving greatly concerned last weeks’
union organizers, a nice group from the Mid West.
This week we have a rowdy and wonderful group from NY.
I don't think any of them notice traffic violations.

The New Yorkers are particularly wonderful on the bull
horn. Minerva on the California campus can raise the
voices of a crowd to new heights.

On my campus, Pacific, Anthony kept us entertained with
amusing and rhythmic chants that kept our spirits up.
After all, walking around in a circle for six and a
half hours isn't as glamorous as it looks.

Anthony is a former nursing home dietary worker. As I
have said before the union seems to have more
organizers that are former health care workers and
less that are recent college grads with little work
experience.

I expressed to him that I felt this makes a
difference. He agreed to a point, but felt that young
inexperienced people "who never had a hard day in
their life" could still work hard. While I still
stand by my original statement, I do feel Anthony has
a point. The labor point is in trouble. Any good
person who wants to join is welcome. It is just a
matter of where to place them. I feel the young
college grads would benefit from being partnered off
with workers-turned-organizers.

Another game was "make them honk". This is a classic,
right up there with pin a tail on the boss or was it
the donkey (some ass I am sure). People have been
monitoring which cars honk the most. Business trucks
and union drivers honk the most and Mercedes Benz honk
the least (so far no one is fainting in shock). To
our surprise BMWs honk much more than the other rich
people. And to think, I used to joke that BMW stood
for Break My Window.

One of the Psyc Techs, "Mary" (names some times
changed to protect the fabulous) had exceptional skill
at making people honk. Mary has been cracking me up
during the strike. Either going comically "soprano"
in union chants or a mock sword fight with picket
signs she exposes boredom as the enemy and a sense of
humor as reaffirming our humanity. She has excellent
comments about safe staffing and calms workers down
who are about to give into fear.

Getting a break from work (even a stressful one) has
got me thinking of some of the problems within the
hospital.

One of the organizers is a former monitor tech. This
means that she used to work on a cardiology floor and
watch the patients' heart rhythms (the squiggly lines
you see on medical shows and soap operas) on the
computers. CPMC does not use monitor techs. Our
model of "care" is that the RNs watch the monitors and
manage the patient care. If all of the RNs are in
patients' rooms the computers watch the patients and
spit out a strip of paper if there is a problem. The
longer the paper, the longer the heart monitors have
been unattended. I have seen more than ten feet of
heart monitor strips lying on the floor. These are
usually minor problems by why not have a tech just in
case?

Once or twice a year the monitors crash. It is easy
to reboot the computers but most people do not where
they are and do not take initiative. If there is a
protocol for how to cover the patients if half the
monitors fail, I haven't seen it put into action.
This is just another reason why the workers need to
have a voice in our staffing. It is less a issue that
people don't accept our solutions to problems, then
the total refusal to accept the idea that we observe
problems.

Hospitals run on the idea that everyone can keep doing
the same thing until every few years someone comes
along with a power point presentation and a big
consulting contract. We can't go on like that
forever. We can't afford to have a health care
system where a significant percentage of workers is
paid to show up and ignore problems.

As depressing as hospitals can be Wednesdays rally was
great. 500 workers and labor supporters rallied at
the California Campus. Minerva did her bull horn
magic. The crowd was totally warmed up for speakers
such as Sal Roselli (president of SEIU-UHW, my union)
and Anna Burger, Chair of the Change to Win Coalition
and Secretary-Treasurer with SEIU International.
Change to Win is controversial in some circles-or at
least the way in came into being--however Anna Burger
was enthusiastic in her support offering the total
support of 1.8 million union members.

I skull is too sunburned to remember more details. I
need to bring the sun block!!!

Day 10:


I can't believe we've been on strike for 10 days. I
was really nervous about being out a whole week and
like most workers, I am thinking it is going to be a
month.

Like most mornings I have been assembling paper work
to work for the registry (a temp agency for health
workers). I go to the picket line in the late morning
and stay till the late afternoon/early morning.

As some people have noticed, our picket lines are less
well attended later in the day. To bolster the lines
the union is encouraging "a double". Work one shift
to midnight and another from midnight till 6:30ish.
One coworker, "Jim", tried this and found it
convenient for time management but not as exciting as
striking with a big crowd of coworkers.

Jim is an aide waiting for his pregnant wife to have
his third child. He won't cross the line in part
because he is mad about the conditions for nursing
assistants. We work in different departments but
discovered we have the same issues as CNAs in the CPMC
structure. Too many patients and no voice in solving
problems. Like me, he thought that since CPMC paid
its RNs better than other hospitals that the aides
would be paid better as well. Boy were we wrong.

The question we asked, why not quit and work for
Kaiser or another Sutter Hospital in East Bay (which
pay more). The answer for some is that they are close
to retirement. One reason I would prefer to stay is
that I can walk to work. If I worked in the East Bay
I would need a car worsening my personal debt
situation.

I have seniority and over 10 weeks of PTO (paid time
off). Also I will never quit in the middle of a
strike. Politically there is another issue. IF CPMC
is allowed to low ball wages for Dietary Workers,
Environmental Workers, Psyc Techs, CNAs & others than
how high will Kaiser and CHW go?

Just as outsourcing has a negative (understatement of
the year) effect on some workers and having the South
be a collection of "Right to Work" states, Sutter is
going to be a reason other hospitals to resist
improving the conditions of workers.

While it appears that CPMC might not employee Katrina
victims (read: Bush & FEMA apathy victims)after all,
the union is still assembling an SEIU volunteer crew
to give relief to over burdened health workers. One
of the Psyc Techs is considering going to Texas to
aide the refugees. If she goes she will get strike
pay. Now she needs her phone calls returned so she
can see which shots and documents to get ready.

I had thought about going but had already applied for
a job when the whole idea surfaced.

Another person said, "Are you the blogger?" Man I
suck at under cover!. Go Kate!!! Thanks for posting
it!!!

The union has a blog at
http://www.sutterstrikersforpatientcare.com/

I had another friend on the line today. Thanks Vern!
He wished we were blocking trucks from entering. He
has a point. I never realized how many CPMC vans
drive between the 3 campuses. I have been shocked
that vans leaving minutes apart only carry one box.
In these days of rising gas prices, I find the gas
guzzling a little appalling. I am sure the transport
workers have mentioned this and I am sure no one
listened to them.

Many of the usual suspects were on the line today.
One of the more enthusiastic union members has been
"Donatello" in the enviromental dept. He gets on the
bullhorn and keeps the noise going. He appeared on
Filipino television today. As a Tagalog speaker he
informed the Filipino community about the conditions
at CPMC. The Filipino community has huge presence in
the Bay Area health care community.

Donatello, a macho guy with a love of Harley Davidsons, has had good instincts about media. He skipped a rally or two and stayed on the picket line at our hospital. He said, and I agree, that we need to keep a presence on our picket lines. I think he finds the right balance. We need to do outreach but the picket line is the symbol of the strike. The picketing creates the media interest not the other way around.

Many of us have been in groups in other movements that
were too media centric and that contributed to their
short lived status.

One of the strikers brought her 10 year old son to the
picket line. He was great. He loved holding the bull
horn and actually got more people to chant then some
of the other "leaders". Anthony, the SEIU organizer
from NY, was great coaching him in the chances.
Anthony's week in SF is almost over. We miss him
already. People have already said goodbye days in
advance out of fear they wouldn't get the chance
later.

I am sure the next crew will be good but the New
Yorkers from SEIU 1199/UHW-East will be a hard act to
follow.

I joked that I wanted our 10-year old chant leader to
wear a shirt that said replacement worker. To have
them think CPMC was using child labor. He had been at
previous rally and his picture is on a current flyer.
He is taking several of them to school. Andy Warhol
was right and I hope our guy enjoys his 15 minutes of
fame.

And if the cameras approach you during your 15 minutes
of fame, you know what to say---"Hey Sutter, Just Say Yes!!!"