PVH Nurses Prepare to Strike

Nurses at Petaluma Valley Hospital are preparing to go on a one day strike June 13 to protest management’s decision to cut pay for on-call nurses by 20 percent, according to a recent article in the Argus Courier.

Replacement nurses will be brought on for five days and no disruption to service is expected, according to the report. Under the change, on-call nurses will receive $21 an hour, additional shift incentives that add to their wage and a sign on bonus of $1,750 if they agree to the contract.

The nurses’ union, California Nurses Association, is also protesting long on-call hours that require a nurse to remain on call for another 16 hours following an eight-hour shift, which they say creates a safety issue for both workers and patients.

But PVH says that only about 25 percent of nurses take on-call shifts and they can always switch with other nurses in order to not work double shifts. It also says that the nurses’ union has not offered any counter proposals during the negotiations.

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