Striking Nurses Locked Out at Five Bay Area Hospitals

Striking Nurses Locked Out at Five Bay Area Hospitals

by James Parks, Oct 15, 2007

Nurses at five Bay Area hospitals were locked out when they tried to return to work Oct. 12, after a two-day strike. Nearly 5,000 registered nurses—members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC)—took a stand for improving patient care in the two-day strike at 15 Northern California hospitals. All but two of the hospitals are part of the giant Sutter Health chain and include some of the largest hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Locked out are nurses at Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center’s facilities in Oakland and Berkeley; Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley; San Leandro Hospital; Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo; and Fremont Medical Center in Yuba City, northeast of Sacramento.

The nurses walked out after the hospitals presented their last and final contract offer, which did not address the nurses’ main concerns. The nurses say the Sutter affiliates provide inadequate staffing, particularly to cover nurses during breaks and during their meals. They also say they have been unable to negotiate language with Sutter on safety issues, such as reducing injuries that can occur when they lift patients, and have not come to agreement on health care and pension benefits.