LAKEPORT, Calif. – Nurses at Sutter Lakeside Hospital are moving forward with a strike on Tuesday after they failed to come to an agreement on a new contract with hospital management last week.

The strike is set to take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, with a rally planned at 3 p.m. Picketers will gather across the street from the hospital, located at 5176 Hill Road East.

California Nurses Association members at Sutter Lakeside and several other Bay Area hospitals are planning to take part in the one-day walkout to protest what they allege are unreasonable concessions being sought at Sutter-managed hospitals.

Benjamin Elliott, CNA’s labor representative for the registered nurses at Sutter Lakeside and the lead negotiator during the contract campaign, told Lake County News that the strike was moving forward after a final bargaining session was held last Thursday, April 26.

Sutter Lakeside Chief Administrative Officer Siri Nelson, also confirmed to Lake County News that the walkout was taking place.

“The community can rest assured that quality patient care will continue as we have contracted for temporary, qualified registered nurses to cover for nurses who choose to strike,” she said in a Monday email message.

Elliott said Sutter Lakeside refused to withdraw its concessions, and maintained its last, best and final offer at the bargaining session last week.

On March 27, Sutter Lakeside had made a final offer that included ratification bonuses, step increases, professional development awards, no-premium health benefit options for registered nurses and their families, employer contributions to a fully funded employee pension plan, between 19 minimum and 48 maximum paid days off and an increase in the retiree health care spending account to $30,000.

Elliott said the offer also included “strictly economic” concessions that Sutter Lakeside management was seeking, such as a 30-percent reduction in standby pay, elimination of afternoon shift differential and a major reduction in night shift differential, reductions in health care coverage, a change in protections regarding pensions and retiree health care, and reductions in protections for nurses receiving meals and rest periods.

“Management is asking for deep cuts in our current contract that are unprecedented,” he said.

Elliott said a vote was taken on the offer and 96 percent of those taking part in the vote rejected it.

He said the union delivered a verbal counter offer at the April 26 bargaining session.

Nelson didn’t interpret what took place as having included a counter offer.

“We met last Thursday under the guise they were willing to compromise and would be bringing proposals,” Nelson said. “But, they brought nothing. Instead, the union reiterated its stance that it would ‘begin’ to negotiate if the hospital dropped our current proposal. We have been negotiating for nearly a year. During this time the union never came to the table with a single written economic proposal.”

She continued, “Our final proposal reflects our commitment to continue providing competitive wages and benefits to our nurses while also providing some long-term economic stability for the hospital. As a reminder, the average full-time RN at Sutter Lakeside makes over $120,000 with a very generous benefit package. And for part-time RNs the average annual compensation is just over $90,000 a year with the same rich benefits.”

Nelson had told Lake County News last week that she believed the negotiations were at impasse. Elliott said Sutter Lakeside attempted to declare impasse, but the union thinks there is still “room to move.”

“The hospital is really campaigning with misinformation and intimidating nurses about the strike and a potential lockout,” he said.

No new bargaining sessions have been scheduled, and Elliott said the nurses are not willing to meet while any of them are locked out in favor of replacement nurses the hospital plans to bring in.

“As soon as all nurses return to work we’re determined to do whatever it takes to reach a settlement,” he said.

In the mean time, Nelson said striking won’t do anything to bring closure to the contract negotiations. “It will just divert already scarce resources.”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .