SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Thousands of Sutter Health nurses and healthcare workers are planning to strike Monday at 15 facilities across Northern California.
The one-day is over staffing and pandemic-related protocols, according to the California Nurses Association. More than 8,000 nurses and healthcare workers are expected to participate.
“Nurses overwhelmingly voted to go out on strike because we see no other option left for us and our patients," said Amy Erb in a statement.
She is an RN who works in Critical Care at California Pacific Medical Center.
"We have tried repeatedly to address the chronic and widespread problem of short staffing that causes delays in care and potentially puts patients at risk, but hospital administrators continue to ignore us. We have a moral and legal obligation to advocate for our patients. We advocate for them at the bedside, at the bargaining table, and if we have to, on the strike line," Erb said.
Sutter Health said in a statement that it hopes the union will call off the strike.
“We are heartened that negotiations with the California Nurses Association (CNA) have resumed with the involvement of a federal mediator. Despite this, they have not called off their planned strike beginning 7 a.m. Monday," said a spokesperson with Sutter Health. "Work stoppages at 18 of our sites – even for a single day – requires complex and costly preparation, and obligates us to make plans that our teams, patients and communities can rely on. We notified CNA today that if the uncertainty of a strike remains this afternoon, we will staff our hospitals on Monday with the contracted replacement workers. We hope the union will call off this strike so our nurses can work their normal shifts on Monday and do what they do best – care for our patients. We stand ready to continue bargaining today as long as negotiations are progressing effectively toward averting the strike.”
Where are nurses planning on striking locally?
Nurses and healthcare workers are planning to picket from 7 - 11 a.m. and 2 - 6 p.m.
- Sutter Tracy Community Hospital
1420 N. Tracy Blvd, Tracy, CA 95376 - Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital
11815 Education Street, Auburn, CA 95661 - Sutter Roseville Medical Center
1 Medical Center Drive, Roseville, CA, 95661 - Sutter Center for Psychiatry
7700 Folsom Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95826
The full list of facilities where nurses and healthcare workers plan to strike can be found HERE.
According to CNA, nurses and healthcare workers have been in negotiations with Sutter Health since June 2021. CNA also wants Sutter Health to have pandemic readiness protection by investing in personal protective equipment stockpiles.
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