National Nurses United

NewsBriefs.2:Sept 9/30/08 1:37 PM Page 4 NewsBriefs CALIFORNIA t took th ree strikes totaling 20 days, for some RNs more than 15 months of bargaining, intense community organizing, and massive coordination among more than a dozen facilities, but starting in September, registered nurses at most Sutter Health hospitals represented by CNA/ NNOC finally achieved breakthroughs in patient protections that prompted them to settle contracts with their employer. During this complex dispute with Sutter, an additional factor in being able to reach settlement were the victories in keeping Sutter Santa Rosa open for the community, and the decision to rebuild St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco while keeping the current medical center open—another triumph for patients and the community. Sutter nurses are not done fighting, however. Negotiators for California Pacific Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco have refused to participate in the latest rounds of bargaining and continue to propose takeaways considered unacceptable among CNA/NNOC members, such as the unilateral right by the employer to increase health insurance premiums and change other medical benefits. "It's not over until it's over," said Jan Rodolfo, an oncology RN at Sutter's Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and chair of the Sutter-wide bargaining council. "Sutter RNs are turning their attention on CPMC I 4 REGISTERED NURSE and St. Luke's to expose them for their complete disregard of the critical issues nurses have brought to the table. The very idea that any CNA RNs would not have healthcare security is not going to happen." Meanwhile, the rest of the more than 4,000 Sutter RNs who had been in negotiations ratified their contracts and celebrated their major accomplishments, which included precedent-setting language to ensure that nurses receive their meals and breaks without compromising staffing ratios and patient care; protections of union rights for nurses and especially charge nurses; a safe patient handling program at most hospitals and lift teams at some; the mostly successful coordination of contract expiration dates for summer 2011; and salary and retirement benefit increases making them among the best-compensated RNs in the country. Perhaps most importantly, RN bargaining team members report that, for the first time, Sutter nurses are thinking and acting like a unified force with common interests and goals. "We really grew as a collective group," said Janet Braillard, a critical care RN at Sutter Solano Medical Center. "I noticed that our nurses are more concerned about what's going on at the other facilities. We're starting to think outside of our little box." Previously, added Rodolfo, when Sutter Health acquired a facility and turned it into an affiliate, nurses tended to still think of their hospital as a community hospital and were sometimes reluctant to challenge the W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G Sutter corporate structure. But that era is over, she said. "Before, people didn't have a full appreciation for how changes at another facility impact them," said Rodolfo. "The curtain's been pulled on [Sutter]. It's very corporate now. We took the Sutter division from something we've talked about to something real." For Braillard, she sees the new mentality as a willingness among her coworkers to hold Sutter accountable and apply pressure to force the giant hospital corporation to change its ways, instead of taking its word that conditions will improve. For example, nurses at Sutter Solano are now actively using the assignment despite objection (ADO) form to document risks to patient safety. "The win for me more than anything else is that our nurses are now more savvy than ever," she said. "I'm really proud of that. You can't depend on the hospital to do the right thing. You have to make them." The arduous negotiations gained momentum in August when Sutter finally relented to language creating a structure for adding staff to provide meal and break relief—a huge point of contention throughout bargaining and most nurses' top issue. RNs throughout the Sutter system reported that they skipped their meals and breaks because their units did not have enough staff, and they were unwilling to simply let a coworker with a full load watch their patients—as Sutter wanted them to do. Now, RNs have input in this staffing "matrix," and it is subject to arbitraSEPTEMBER 2008 OBAMA: ALLISON HARGER; MCCAIN: MARCN Sutter RNs Settle Most Outstanding Contracts, but Work Not Over

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