National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:October 2007 10/18/07 10:22 AM Page 4 NewsBriefs STRIKE AGAINST SUTTER acing a recalcitrant employer unwilling to bargain over many patient care issues, nearly 5,000 registered nurses at 13 Northern California hospitals took the ultimate step in nurse and patient advocacy by going on strike Oct. 10 and 11 against the giant healthcare corporation Sutter Health. Hundreds of nurses negotiating for a first contract at a different health system, Fremont-Rideout Health Group near Sacramento, also simultaneously struck. (See article on Fremont-Rideout strike in this issue.) The combined action was the largest strike in a decade by California nurses. "This was the only way to get Sutter to wake up," said Jan Rodolfo, an oncology RN at the Oakland campus of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and a bargaining team leader. "We are serious about our proposals to improve patient care and will do what it takes to make that happen." At some locations, Sutter responded by locking out for up to three more days nurses scheduled to return to work. F 4 REGISTERED NURSE Nurse leaders at every facility reported that the strike was a success. Almost all RNs honored the picket lines and many commented that the activities helped to bond the nurses more strongly with one another, across units, and with nurses working at other Sutter hospitals. "We all have to stick together. We're all at the same point, we all have the same issues across Sutter," said Janet Braillard, an intensive care unit RN at Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo, Calif., at a rally during the second day of the strike. "Patients are always our first concern." The number one problem identified by nurses across the Sutter system is its failure to let them take meal and rest breaks without worrying for the safety of their patients. Finding appropriate coverage while they take a rest during a shift has been a major struggle for RNs. Sometimes managers ask LVNs to watch an RN's patients while the RN takes a break. Often, the charge nurse is asked to cover an RN's patients during break, but that may be on top of whatever direct assignments the charge is handling and may also be a violation of the ratios if the charge nurse must break multiple nurses simultaneously. "In half an hour, anything can happen," said Irene LaChance, an RN at Alta Bates. "Patients don't wait for us to come back from a break to go downhill. We want protection for our patients 100 percent of the time. Not 90 or 80. All patients should have an RN directly assigned to them." A legal ruling won by CNA/ NNOC in 2004 reaffirmed that state-mandated staffing ratios apply at all times—even during rest periods. Sutter appears to prefer paying penalty pay for missed meals and breaks. According to documents obtained by CNA/NNOC, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in 2005 and 2006 paid nearly $2 million in penalties for nurses unable to take breaks. RNs estimate CALIFORNIA W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G OCTOBER 2007

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