Fremont-Rideout One-Day RN Strike Friday - Hospital hires costly replacements, tells RNs not to return to work until Tuesday

Registered nurses at Fremont-Rideout Health Group will be on strike from 6:00 a.m., Friday Aug. 31 to 6:00 a.m. Sept. 1, the California Nurses Association announced today. Picket lines will be up at Rideout Memorial Hospital, Fremont Medical Center, Fremont-Rideout Cancer Center, and Feather River Surgery Center beginning at 6:00 a.m. , Friday Aug. 31 to 6:00 a.m. Sept. 1, the California Nurses Association announced today. Picket lines will be up at Rideout Memorial Hospital, Fremont Medical Center, Fremont-Rideout Cancer Center, and Feather River Surgery Center beginning at 6:00 a.m. Friday.

A rally will take place Friday, 11:00 am at Fremont Medical Center and if hospital management continues in its plans to lock-out the nurses, there will also be a rally at Fremont Medical Center at 11:00 a.m. on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 3.

RNs dispute FRHG’s repeated claim that they are not locking out the nurses. “The nurses have made an unconditional offer to return to work at the end of our strike,” said Karen Miles, an RN, at Fremont-Rideout Cancer Center, and a member of the CNA nurse negotiating team. “The administration refuses to let us back—that’s a lockout. Many supervisors have been using the word ‘lockout’ when they try to intimidate nurses from exercising their rights. If it’s not a lockout, what is it?”

On Wednesday, Aug. 30, FRHG added to a long list of unfair labor practices by issuing a new policy without negotiation with the elected RN bargaining team which threats to withhold holiday pay for Labor Day for those nurses who strike on Friday. Retaliation against employees who exercise their right to collective action is illegal. “These are desperation tactics on the part of the administration,” said Lorrie Holt, an RN who works at the Feather River Surgery Center, and is a member of the CNA nurse negotiating team.

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