More than 8,000 Sutter Health nurses and health care workers are planning a one-day strike Monday at more than a dozen Northern California healthcare facilities for better health and safety standards amid the COVID-19 pandemic they say has led to “moral distress” among workers.
After 10 months of contract negotiations, the workers are urging management to invest in “pandemic readiness protections” including adequate stockpiles of personal protective equipment, increased nursing staff and an equal voice on health and safety committees.
“I hope by going out on strike it finally moves Sutter to take nurses seriously. We deserve a strong contract not only to recruit nurses but to retain nurses we have now,” said Renee Waters, a nurse for 26 years at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, emphasizing that the pandemic has put a magnifying glass on the needs of health care workers. “A strike is a last resort.”
The workers have been negotiating with Sutter Health over their concerns since June, according to the California Nurses Association.
Sutter Health officials are “pleased” the union has “come back to the table after we engaged federal mediators” but want the union to call off the planned strike, Angie Sheets, a spokeswoman for the organization, wrote in an email.
“We are hopeful that our continued willingness to bargain in good faith will encourage the union to call off this costly and disruptive strike and instead work toward an agreement that recognizes our nurses for their important work while maintaining the strength and stability of our hospitals for all who depend upon us,” Sheets wrote.
Union officials and workers say they’ve already tried to reach an agreement, without success.
“We have tried repeatedly to address the chronic and widespread problem of short staffing that causes delays in care and potentially puts patients at risk, but hospital administrators continue to ignore us,” Amy Erb, a nurse who works in critical care at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, said in a news release for National Nurses United, a national union for registered nurses.
In the Bay Area, nurses and workers are expected to strike in Burlingame, Castro Valley, Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, Antioch and other regional centers between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. and between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Monday.
