Registered nurses picketed outside Alta Bates Summit Medical Center on Telegraph Avenue Tuesday morning to strike against the proposed cutbacks from Sutter Health Corporation.
The nurses gathered starting at 7 a.m. for the third one-day strike held since the conflict with the corporation began, according to Eric Cook, a nurse at the center. The nurses’ strike is one of several strikes taking place Tuesday at different facilities owned by the corporation across the Bay Area.
The protests are also being held in connection with the International May 1 Day of Action and General Strike in which union workers and occupy protesters are participating.
The mood at the nurses’ strike was almost festive with heartfelt chants, pizza, blaring music and cheers as passing cars honked in solidarity. Yet what appeared to be a friendly gathering on the surface was underlined by a shared sense of urgency.
“I am so grateful for each and every one of you for being here and wearing red,” said Ann Gabler, a bargaining team representative and nurse at the center. “I guarantee you that I am not going to let Sutter Health Corporation take a magic marker to our contract and line out the parts that they don’t like.”
According to the strikers, the proposed cutbacks include $18 salary cuts for new graduate nurses, cutting sick leave for nurses, forcing nurses to work in hospital areas in which they do not have expertise and health coverage cuts for nurses, among others. Nurses at the strike said these cutbacks will hurt not only nurses but patients.
“We’re fighting for the fact that our hospital has over $4 billion in profits in the past four years, yet they want to cut our wages and benefits by 30 percent,” Cook said. “They’re also cutting services to the community. No more bone marrow transplants, no more free breast screenings for people with disabilities … cutting mental health services.”
This sense of unfairness was a common theme in the rally Tuesday as nurses chanted, “WTF Sutter — Where’s the fairness?”
Many people, like California Nurses Association Director of Public Policy Michael Lighty, were angered by what they feel is the corporation’s priorities being placed on profits over patients.
“This corporation is designed for one thing and that is to make money and you nurses are the force that can change this corporation and make it serve the community and its patients,” Lighty said. “And if you don’t stand up, there’s nothing between the patients and Sutter’s business model.”
According to the nurses, while the corporation proposes cutbacks on its nurses’ salaries, there are other parts of the organization still profiting.
President and Chief Executive of Sutter Health Patrick Fry and other company executives have received salary hikes, nurses said.
The conflict with the corporation has stretched over 43 contract negotiation sessions adding up to a total of 500 hours over the last year, Gabler said. Still, the nurses at the center feel the corporation has been unresponsive to the needs and demands from the nurses.
“Alta Bates has been a powerhouse of union activity and that’s what (Sutter) wants to do here,” said nurse John Maynes. “They want to try to break the union here at one of its most powerful places.”
Jaehak Yu covers city government.
Comment Policy
Comments should remain on topic, concerning the article or blog post to which they are connected. Brevity is encouraged. Posting under a pseudonym is discouraged, but permitted. The Daily Cal encourages readers to voice their opinions respectfully in regard to the readers, writers and contributors of The Daily Californian. Comments are not pre-moderated, but may be removed if deemed to be in violation of this policy. Click here to read the full comment policy.
nurses have earned our respect. they hold our body and mind together when we are sick. support the nurses
The real agenda for Sutterhealth is to break the union. The second agenda is to get rid of the senior nurses as they are the most costly to the hospital. They are so short sighted.
The Union ahs asked on many occasions to let the contract stand as it is, no raises, no changes. Sutterhealth has refused. They are not bargaining in good faith, they are dictating.
I would challenge them to follow a nurse for one day on a unit.
After 30 years with this company, I feel disappointed and devalued.
Then quit, get a job somewhere else, and stop your g_ddamn whining. A lot of us aren’t happy about everything that goes on where we work, but we don’t post complaints about our employer online. If it’s that bad we move on and find another job. That’s how real adults deal with their problems.
On the surface, Stan, what you say may seem reasonable–but only if you ignore the massive imbalance in power between a health-care conglomerate and one employee. Thus, we have unions, which attempt to counterbalance the employer’s caprices.
Neither etiquette nor ethics demand a “nil nisi bonum” approach to speaking of our employers. Of course you’re free to adopt the Gary Cooper approach for yourself if you like, and I hope it works well for you.
“According to the nurses…”
The reporter only quotes the nurses. He does not even try to get Sutter management’s point of view. For example, the following facts about nurses are listed on Sutter’s web site but the reporter did not bother to investigate:
• An average of $136,000 per year
• An employer-paid pension plan worth $84,000 per year on average in retirement
• 40 paid days off per year
The claims Sutte puts on its web site are patently false. I’ve been a nurse at Herrick or Alta Bates for 30 years and in no way EVER made that neck of the woods of a salary. Also we asked sutter to put that 85K into writing as a retirement benefit, they flatly refused and have been unable to show even one nurse (staff nurse not a manager) who makes that type of retirement.
My ritirement if I tried to retire now (after 30 years ) is about 20K. Less than what my health care would cost., J. Evans
As a former employee of Alta Bates who worked in administration and was privy to compensation details for the CNA and SEIU employees, I can assure you that Sutter’s claims are inflated (and that’s a charitable word; “bullshit” also comes to mind).
Nursing is not a cake job. These days, doctors fly in to do 5-minute consultations on patients and then zip right back out, from day to day ordering treatments and medications that are often contraindicated by previous orders. Not only is it the nurse’s job to provide the lion’s share of care for patients, they also have to untangle the bewildering directives of a doctor who spends very little time on each patient. Nursing staff deserve to be compensated fairly for their difficult jobs.
The nurses are not the villains here. Look to the healthcare industry, specifically the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, if you want someone to blame for the expense.
Compensated fairly is the applicable word here.
Do you think they aren’t being compensated fairly? How much is really being cut here? Please tell me what Sutter is actually proposing to cut from their benefits, and tell me how this compares to the benefits that competing hospitals in the area offer.
No one is saying nursing is easy, but if Sutter isn’t making as much as before (and they are planning for the future universal health care plans that will severely impact hospital costs), then something’s got to go.
I would be so happy to be getting $84,000 a year for a pension. Try $10,000 a year.