Nurses strike 15 hospitals, mostly in Bay Area
Thousands of nurses walked off their jobs Wednesday morning at the start of what is expected to be a 48-hour walkout at 15 Northern California hospitals, all but two of which are in the Bay Area.
Hospital officials said replacement workers were in place and services will not be interrupted.
Officials from the California Nurses Association said as many as 5,000 nurses are expected to participate, making it the largest nursing strike in California in a decade.
Union leaders said the action, which is directed at hospitals affiliated with the Sutter Health network, is centered on unresolved contract issues affecting staffing, health and retiree benefits. The union has been negotiating with many of the hospitals since spring.
But the hospitals see it differently.
“This is a union pushing union priorities. They’re out to get a master contract,” said Jonnie Banks, spokeswoman for Eden Medical Center, referring to the union’s desire to get a contract that covers all Sutter hospitals in the region.
Linda Bowers, a registered nurse who was on the picket lines Wednesday morning at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center’s Berkeley campus, said she was most concerned about potential cuts to retiree health benefit.
“I saved for my retirement,” said Bowers, who will celebrate her 34th anniversary with the hospital next month. “My finances aren’t the issue, but retiree health care is.”
Hospital officials said many registered nurses crossed the picket lines Wednesday.
Kevin McCormack, spokesman for St. Luke’s Hospital and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, said about 26 percent of California Pacific’s nurses crossed the picket lines. “We brought in enough nurses to cover every single shift if no nurses crossed over, so we’re actually in better shape,” he said.
Hospital officials at Alta Bates Summit, the largest hospital involved in the strike, said nearly half the nurses crossed the picket lines, while at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, the number was about 18 percent.
Jan Rodolfo, an oncology nurse at Alta Bates Summit in Oakland who is also on the union’s bargaining team, disputed those numbers.
“There are always going to be some nurses who cross the picket lines, but it’s very few,” Rodolfo said.
Both sides agreed that Wednesday’s strike activities went smoothly without major incidents. Hospital officials said some patients had questions, but were generally not affected.
While the labor action is scheduled to end by 7 a.m. Friday, striking nurses at two hospitals may not return immediately to work.
Officials at Alta Bates Summit said the hospital signed a five-day contract with a company providing replacement nurses, so its nurses are expected to be locked out until Monday. At Eden Medical Center, striking nurses won’t be allowed to return until Saturday.
At Alta Bates Summit, nurses vowed they would return Friday.
“They’ve told us we’re locked out for five days, but we told them it’s a two-day strike, and we’ll be here at 7 a.m. (Friday), ready to return to work if we’re scheduled,” said Christine McCargar, a union negotiator who has been a nurse since 1969.
No new negotiations are scheduled. Several hospital officials said they are willing to return to the table but the union is digging in its heels.
Nurses also walked out at two hospitals outside the Bay Area. Those hospitals, which are operated by Fremont-Rideout Health Group, are Fremont Medical Center in Yuba City and Rideout Memorial Hospital in Marysville.
E-mail Victoria Colliver at vcolliver@sfchronicle.com.
