National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:2 4/24/08 1:19 AM Page 6 NewsBriefs RNs Deal Third Strike to Sutter etermined to make Sutter Health bargain seriously over its registered nurses' concerns with patient care, retirement, healthcare, and medical redlining, some 4,000 RNs across 10 Northern California facilities staged a 10-day strike in March, their third and longest walkout since last October. "We really needed to make Sutter feel our value," said Millicent Borland, an RN at the Oakland campus of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. "Sutter is making millions of dollars because of us. We are the ones doing the work." This latest strike was the most contentious yet. CNA/NNOC filed National Labor Relations Board charges on March 27 against Sutter for harassing and intimidating nurses for striking. At various campuses, hospital officials told or implied to RNs that they could lose their jobs or healthcare benefits if they went on strike. Though Sutter tried to claim otherwise, RNs reported 95 percent participation. Like Borland, many of the nurses are simply angry that Sutter has assumed such a hostile position in bargaining by refusing to budge on many proposals. According to bargaining team members, Sutter still does not agree to increase staffing by hiring meal and break relief RNs to cover coworkers who need to take rest periods but still want to maintain D 6 REGISTERED NURSE ratios and ensure their patients are safely monitored. "I'm upset that it's an afterthought whether or not I get a break," said Leslie Silket, a short stay surgery RN also at Summit. "When I take a break, I feel better. When I get outside and take a walk and get some air, I feel better." She added that it's important that RNs can recharge and relax during breaks to better focus and care for their patients. In addition, Sutter has not modified almost all of its takeaway proposals over retirement and healthcare benefits. Registered nurses such as Gretchen Seccombe, an oncology RN at the Berkeley campus of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, are particularly worried whether nurses like herself will be able to retire in dignity. She said that one nurse she knows who just received her retirement paperwork learned that she will only be receiving $28,000 per year in pension benefits after 28 years with the company. Sutter is "putting out total lies" about how much pension nurses can expect, basing its numbers on projected pensions of nurses hired today, said Seccombe. She is determined to fight for retirement improvements. "It's very basic," said Seccombe, a 28-year veteran of Sutter. "You have to take care of your- self if you want to take care of other people." Sutter is also still hedging about its plans to shut down acute-care services at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco and has not made a clear commitment to keep open the only private hospital facility in the southern half of the city that serves a predominantly lowincome and minority community. On April 1, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution condemning Sutter for this medical redlining, a term used to describe the systematic denial of medical care to underserved communities for profit motives. Finally, Sutter again made headlines in March when an arbitrator ruled that Sutter's California Pacific Medical Center illegally violated the terms of its contract by unilaterally increasing fees and copays for healthcare benefits. The arbitrator ordered CPMC to roll back any changes made since January 2007 and to reimburse RNs for the extra money they had to pay. "Everyone was just so upset," said Kristy Cusimano, a labor and delivery RN at CPMC who was surprised by $700 and $250 copay bills for two hospitalizations, on top of increased drug copays. "I was very mad and wasn't expecting these bills. It felt like [CPMC] was going behind our backs." RNs are hopeful that this latest strike will prod Sutter back to the bargaining table to negotiate in earnest. Nurses like Silket are planning to stand their ground. "I am out here for my family, my union, and my job," said Silket. "I'll miss 10 days, 100 days. I'll do whatever it takes to get a contract." —staff report CALIFORNIA W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G APRIL 2008

• Cover