 |
  
Nursing Jobs, Learning Resources, Career Tools
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|  |  Nurses and Caregivers, Joined by Elected and Community Leaders, Take Next Major Step to Protect Quality Care at Sutter HealthPR Newswire July 28, 2005 7,000+ Healthcare Workers Scheduled to Announce Strike Deadline at 11 Sutter Hospitals OAKLAND, Calif., July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- When: Friday, July 29, at 11:0 0 a.m. Where: Summit Medical Center (outside) 350 Hawthorne Ave (corner of Hawthorne & Webster) Oakland Joined by elected officials, community leaders, and patient care advocates, nurses represented by the California Nurses Association and caregivers represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West, will announce a joint strike deadline at eleven Sutter Health hospitals across Northern California. The healthcare workers are setting the deadline to protest continued bad faith bargaining and other federal labor law violations in their on-going negotiations to win a real voice in staffing decisions at Sutter facilities. The deadline will affect more than seven thousand nurses and caregivers at Sutter hospitals in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa and Lake counties, as well as hundreds of additional healthcare workers represented by the Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union (CHEU), UNITE-HERE, the Teamsters, Stationary Engineers Local 39 and Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 29. Sutter Health, the largest hospital system in Northern California, has been plagued by significant patient care deficiencies at several of its facilities, while amassing more than $1 billion in profits over the past three years. The impending labor dispute is only the most recent example of Sutter's serious and growing problems. In recent months, Sutter has been sued for overcharging uninsured patients, chastised by public health officials for failing to provide appropriate levels of charity care, and investigated by the United States Senate Finance Committee for potential abuses of its not-for-profit status. Meanwhile, Sutter's Alta Bates/Summit Medical Center has been preliminarily denied hospital industry accreditation and its California Pacific Medical Center has been ordered by the San Francisco tax assessor to show cause why its not-for-profit status should not be revoked due to excessive profits. "We didn't make the decision to strike lightly -- Sutter has been bargaining in bad faith with us for more than eighteen months. Our patients deserve to receive care in a hospital where caregivers feel valued and patients, rather than profits, are the first priority," said Della Reed, a Licensed Vocational Nurse with 27 years experience at Sutter's California Pacific Medical Center. "It's unfortunate that Sutter may force us to strike, but the support we've received from public officials, community leaders, patient care advocates and other Sutter unions has been overwhelming, and it puts Sutter on notice that this isn't just a fight with its caregivers, but with the entire community." With over 130,000 members throughout the state in the hospital, homecare and nursing home industries, SEIU United Healthcare Workers West is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare workers union in the Western U.S. Our mission is to achieve high quality healthcare for all. Media Contact Thea Lavin (c) 510-520-7732
About hireNursing
::
Copyright ::
Privacy
:: Legal
:: Contact |
 |
|
 |
Print
This Page