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CALIFORNIA R egistered nurses at Memorial- Care Long Beach Medical Center (LBMC) and Miller Children's and Women's Hospital in Long Beach and Alhambra Hospital Medical Center in Alhambra held one-day strikes on May 22 to protest issues impacting patient care and safe staffing. California Nurses Association repre- sents nearly 200 nurses at Alhambra Medical Center and nearly 2,200 nurses at Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children's and Women's Hospital. The latter is the largest private-sector bargaining unit in Southern California. Long Beach and Alham- bra nurses are in contract negotiations. LBMC nurses said long ER wait times, workplace violence incidents, and staffing issues remain prevalent and unresolved. However, instead of bargaining in good faith to address nurses' concerns, LBMC announced cuts in services and layoffs before cancelling negotiations scheduled for May 9 with CNA. "We are striking to stand up for ourselves and our patients who deserve safe staffing," said Brandy Welch, RN at Long Beach Med- ical Center. "In the emergency department, nurses don't have time to take meal or rest breaks because we are so busy. Patients are sicker and that means they need more care. When we have a lot of very ill patients, we should be assigned fewer patients, but that is not happening." "We want nurses to be assigned only to work in units where they have experience and expertise," said Stephanie Jobe, RN at Miller Children's and Women's Hospital. "Instead, some nurses are being floated to work in areas outside of their home unit, putting their license and patients at risk. We also want workplace violence protections so patients and staff will be safe. This is why we are striking." At Alhambra Hospital Medical Center, RNs held a strike for resource nurses and contract accountability. Resource nurses are tasked with providing support and assis- tance to other nurses on a unit, with tasks like patient care and admissions, discharges, and training. Because they are not assigned patients during the shift, resource nurses would be able to fill in gaps created by Alhambra's skeletal staffing system. "A staffing plan without resource nurses means that units are short-staffed before we even walk into our shifts," said Farah Gerami, RN in the education department. "It's an inappropriate standard of care and leaves nurses exhausted and unable to pro- vide the care we believe our patients deserve. We are striking to ensure there is a resource nurse scheduled for our shifts, so that we can take a break to eat, use the bath- room, and have a breather." Alhambra nurses also struck over the hospital's refusal to allow union representa- tives to access the hospital floors. In order to enforce the conditions agreed upon in their contracts, including conditions that deter- mine patient safety conditions, nurses benefit from the presence of the labor repre- sentative. "If they've agreed to the conditions in our collective bargaining agreement, what are they hiding by refusing our representatives access?" asked Jacky Reyna, RN in the med- ical-surgical unit. "This is a commonsense and standard agreement between all hospi- tal employers and health care unions and Alhambra Medical Center's CEO doesn't get to be the exception." —Chuleenan Svetvilas and Michelle Morris Long Beach and Alhambra nurses each hold one-day strikes RNs strike for patient safety and fair contracts 8 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 5 NEWS BRIEFS