Sutter Nurses Strike Again

Thousands of registered nurses at 10 Sutter Health hospitals are holding a one-day strike today to demand improved nurse benefits and increased patient care in contract negotiations that have remained unresolved for nearly a year.

Organized through the California Nurses Association, this is the fourth strike the union has called at Sutter Health hospitals in the last eight months and the second since a May 1 strike.

The nurses are disputing concessions Sutter has asked from nurses including cuts to sick days; increases to out-of-pocket health care coverage and measures such as increased overtime, which the union believes harms patients.

"Sutter is trying to undermine our ability to treat patients," California Nurses Association spokesman Charles Idelson said.

Sutter posted on its website this week, "From six-figure average wages for full-time nurses to an employer-paid pension and other quality benefits, Sutter Health hospitals understand that providing high-quality care for patients starts with taking great care of nurses -- and all employees."

"Stop worrying about your bottom line and start worry about patients," Idelson said in response to the health network's figures, which he said are inflated.

Idelson cited more than $4 billion in profit since 2005 for the health network.

In solidarity with the Sutter strike, nurses at Petaluma Valley Hospital in Petaluma, which is part of the St. Joseph Health System, is also picketing today.

Rallies were scheduled throughout the day including an 11 a.m. demonstration at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, Alta Bates Summit in Oakland at 1 p.m. and noontime rallies at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley; Novato Community Hospital; Sutter Delta in Antioch and Sutter Solano in Vallejo.

Two rallies at Mills-Peninsula Health Services hospitals in Burlingame and San Mateo are scheduled at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Other affected hospitals include San Leandro Hospital and Sutter Lakeside.

After more than a year of contract negotiations, a bargaining meeting between union representatives and Sutter Health officials is scheduled Thursday at Alta Bates Summit offices in Oakland.

Idelson said four Sutter hospitals, including Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa, withdrew demands and a nurses' agreement was struck in the past month.

"Why do they need these horrendous concessions?" Idelson asked. He said the union is making headway at more Bay Area hospitals, "It's not in the best interest of the patients if (Sutter) is at permanent war with nurses."

Although only a one-day strike, Idelson said the nurses expect Sutter to hold a nurses lockout.

At Mills-Peninsula, Chief Operating Officer Dolores Gomez said protocol for a strike is to hire replacement contract nurses for five days. Striking nurses will return to work on June 18, she said.

Despite picket lines, 41 percent of nurses crossed over this morning for the day shift, Gomez said.

All services are open at the Burlingame and San Mateo hospitals with union nurses available in case of a major emergency.

The union has called more than 150 strikes in California in the last four years, according to the Sutter Health blog that chronicles labor negotiations.

-Bay City News