National Nurses United

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 M A R C H 2 0 1 4 NEWS BRIEFS CALIFORNIA A u.s. federal court judge in late February blocked an attempt by Sutter Health's Alta Bates Summit Medical Center to unilaterally impose sweep- ing changes to its entire registered nurse workforce that threatened job rights and health coverage for 1,700 RNs in Oakland and Berkeley. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) finding that California Nurses Associ- ation/National Nurses United, which brought the request, "has shown that its member nurses are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief," and that a TRO "is in the public interest." The TRO was critical to blocking the implementation of Sutter's hospital-wide attack on the nurses that they say will exac- erbate an already worsening crisis of unsafe staffing at Alta Bates Summit and the poten- tial loss of scores of the hospital's most expe- rienced RNs, further undermining quality care at the hospital. Over the past year, Alta Bates Summit nurses have documented and reported to management more than 500 instances of unsafe patient assignments. Instead of addressing the nurses' concerns about inadequate staffing, Sutter has imposed a layoff of all 1,700 RNs and forced them to reapply for their jobs, with the expectation that it would implement a number of layoffs, force some part-time nurses to work full time, while slashing work hours for many to fewer than 20 hours per week for the sole purpose of eliminating their health coverage. All the nurses who had re-bid for jobs were supposed to be in their new positions as of March 2. "Many of our units are bursting with patients while Sutter is understaffed, and now it wants to do layoffs," said Lucy Riley, RN. With a new contract in place following the contract battle, a fight that included nine strikes during which RNs refused to accept more than 85 concession demands, the hospital is legally required to submit contract disputes to a grievance and arbitra- tion process, which Alta Bates Summit refused to do prior to setting the implemen- tation date of these rebid jobs. Instead, under the pretext of additional cuts in patient care services, the hospital has sought to immediately and unilaterally implement the concessions it was unable to win in bargaining. The patient care cuts include closure of an inpatient infusion center, an inpatient skilled nursing facility, and an inpatient oncology unit. "Sutter's goal is to unilaterally carry out through dictatorial fiat what it was not able to achieve through the collective bargaining process," said CNA Co-President Deborah Burger, RN. "CNA will never accept this disgraceful attack on our members' rights, their livelihood, and the health security of their families and their patients." The RNs have held several public protests against the closures and the attacks on the RNs, citing how reductions at the hospital have already led to critical short staffing that puts patients at risk. At a February rally of 300 RNs at the Alta Bates Summit Oakland campus, a nurse delegation presented 500 reports of unsafe staffing to hospital managers who have failed to act on nurses' concerns about what they call unsafe conditions. The reports were handed to Steve O'Brien, chief medical officer for Alta Bates Summit, and Julie Petrini, the hospital's chief financial officer and an RN executive. Neither has yet to respond. "It's not right, it's not safe, it's not community based, it's not nonprofit. Stop it!" said RN Ann Gaebler. —Staff report Sutter Health RNs win restraining order against employer

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