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NewsBriefs:October 2007 copy 12/27/07 1:01 PM Page 4 NewsBriefs Sutter RNs Strike Again ns at 13 sutter health facilities took to the sidewalks again in December, holding a two-day strike in protest of the hospital chain's continuing refusal to seriously bargain over patient care and staffing improvements, as well as other retirement and healthcare issues. The strike comes at a time when the corporation is facing increasing criticism for trying to close facilities or cut services in medically underserved communities, and for retaliating against nurses who are outspoken about substandard patient care practices. Sutter also locked out nurses at the majority of striking facilities for up to three additional days after the strike. "None of our key issues are being addressed," said Eileen Prendiville, a NICU RN at California Pacific Medical Center and a member of the CNA/NNOC bargaining team. "I think nurses are resolved that this is what we need to do if we can't successfully bargain the contract." Sutter RNs picketed at all the facilities Dec. 13 and 14, and held three major rallies with hundreds of nurses at California Pacific Medical Center, Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, and St. Luke's Hospital. And for the R first time, Sutter management at Summit Medical Center approached nurses on the picket line for help with a medical procedure, a sign that replacement nurses were not capable of handling all the patient care required. Little progress has been made in contract talks for some 5,000 nurses since the first strike in October, the largest registered nurse strike in the United States in the last decade. The nurses' top demands include dedicated meal/break relief RNs so that nurses can rest and eat meals without fearing for their patients' safety; admit RNs and dedicated Rapid Response Teams; quality and choice in their healthcare benefits; improved pensions; guaranteed post retirement healthcare coverage; and lift teams to help prevent back injuries and protect patients. Currently, many Sutter nurses are rarely able to take the breaks they're entitled to. Most never leave their unit, instead eating their meals outside their patients' rooms or going without. The practice has been to ask a coworker to keep an eye on your patients, but that system is unsafe and unacceptable, said Carol Barazi, an operating room RN at San Leandro Hospital and a member of the bargaining team. "Patients in CALIFORNIA 4 REGISTERED NURSE W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G Top: Hundreds of RNs striking Sutter Health gathered for a rally at Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame. Below: Nurses show their spirit on the picket lines at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. the hospital are usually pretty sick with chronic conditions," said Barazi. "It only takes one to go sour, then the RN who's covering needs to drop everything to take care of that patient and all the other ones just have to wait." RNs are also facing numerous healthcare takeaways for themselves and their families, either in the form of being forced into a "Sutter only" healthcare plan, losing provider DECEMBER 2007