Sharp Chula Vista Nurses Say They Will Strike

SAN DIEGO COUNTY -- The union representing Sharp HealthCare’s registered nurses says that on Nov. 17, the nurses sent management notice of intent to strike beginning Nov. 28, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

The ten-day notice informed Sharp that the nurses would strike for three days, beginning at 7 am on Monday, Nov. 28 and continuing through Wednesday, Nov. 30. The Sharp RNs say they intend to return to work on Thursday morning, Dec. 1, for their 7:30 am shifts.

The strike comes in response to what the union calls Sharp’s "repeated violations of federal labor law and refusal to address patient care problems caused by an escalating crisis in nurse turnover."

Earlier this month, the members of Sharp Professional Nurses Network (SPNN) voted to reject management's latest contract offer and authorize an unfair labor practice strike. SPNN represents almost 5,000 registered nurses at Sharp.

Sharp HealthCare currently employs about 4,800 nurses, about half of whom are union members.
If the labor action proceeds, it would be the largest strike of registered nurses in California this year, according to the union, as well as the second largest strike of any kind in the nation, behind a Communication Workers of America strike.

“In public they try to paint this rosy picture, but the numbers tell the story,” said Christina Magnusen, RN, an eight-year nurse in Sharp Grossmont’s Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) and SPNN’s President. “Sharp’s on track to lose 700 nurses in 2016, up from 605 last year and 514 the year before that.”

Sharp maintains its wages are average, but a comparison of wage grids between Sharp and hospitals like Kaiser and UCSD reveals a huge discrepancy in pay, according to the union. On the Kaiser RN wage grid a two-year nurse makes $52.20 per hour. On UCSD’s grid a nurse can reach $52.58 after only eight years’ experience. The union says that a Sharp nurse would have to work 22 years—two decades longer than at Kaiser—to reach $52.20 per hour.

“Why should the public care how much we make?” Magnusen said. “Because pay is linked to retention, and retention is linked to quality care. If this were just about money for us, we would have left Sharp years ago. We’re the ones who stayed. We want to fix this.”

Officials with Sharp have yet to comment on the strike notice, but the company recently said that in its "last, best and final contract offer," all nurses would get at least a 16 percent bump in pay over three years. But the union has countered that wages would still not reach the level of nurse salaries at other facilities around San Diego County.

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