This amazing strike was conducted as a rank and file-led effort against Sutter Health, a multimillion-dollar hospital company. We may never meet them, but we are still planting the tree.” We are doing things now that will benefit the new nurses that are coming. It is all about greed, maltreatment, and we are not having it. “Bargaining for 18 months is absolute nonsense. “We must continue to stand shoulder to shoulder,” said Jemila Pereira, another nurse negotiator. Donna Woodruff, negotiator for nurses at the Alta Bates Herrick campus, said, “I want Sutter to know that the bargaining team is ready, anytime Sutter wants to come to the table and bargain with us.” Sutter suspended bargaining until the beginning of 2023. Speakers included nurses on the bargaining unit and supporters from local unions, including teachers from the OEA. On New Year’s Day, a rally was held at 11 a.m. A contingent of teachers from the Oakland Education Association joined the strikers in Berkeley almost every day. Many nurses brought their children, their parents and other family members to the picket lines. Lilliam Morrison, an Alta Bates nurse hired in September, explained that she was on the picket line because of all the support the union and other nurses have given her. Many young and new nurses participated in the strike. Punctuating the music and dancing on the picket line was the constant honking of passing cars, showing drivers’ support for the only hospital in Berkeley and in solidarity with the courageous fight of the nurses for a just contract. (Photo: Judy Greenspan)Ī union-friendly DJ provided nonstop music during the nine-day strike, despite the rain. They buy hospitals, combine them and then shut ancillary facilities down.” These hospitals can then charge exorbitant rates and greatly increase their profits.īerkeley, Dec. “Sutter Health creates a monopoly wherever they go. Koch says he believes Sutter Health’s ultimate goal is to close the Ashby campus of Alta Bates. Most of the nurses are leaving not only because of the bad conditions, but we can go down the street to Kaiser (in another California hospital system) and make a minimum of 15% to 20% more.” Later that week, this reporter spoke with Eric Koch, an Alta Bates nurse on the negotiating team, at the makeshift outdoor “nurses’ lounge.” Koch talked about the tragic “hemorrhaging of staff” since the pandemic: “We have lost over 70% of nurses since the pandemic started. It’s not a good thing what is going on and somebody has got to stand up and fight for us, and that somebody is all of us.” … We are out here trying to correct some of the conditions that led to the deplorable situation that people faced. Ann Gaebler, a veteran Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse, said: “Many, many lives were lost in the pandemic. On Christmas Eve, a vigil was dedicated to patients and staff who had lost their lives due to COVID-19. The striking nurses held rallies every day during the strike. “We have only had a pension for about 20 years, and it was a big fight for us to get it.” The bargaining units which ratified this new contract lost pension rights for nurses hired after the contract ratification. (Photo: Judy Greenspan) Urdal explained that this meant new nurses would not have the option of getting a “true pension.” She said nurses on their bargaining team did not like the “best and final offer” at all. Bay Area nurses strike Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Berkeley, California, Dec.
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