LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Registered nurses at Sutter Lakeside Hospital are planning to hold an informational picket at the hospital next week, joining nurses across 15 facilities who are seeking a contract that improves staffing, as well as workplace violence and pandemic readiness.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United said the picket in Lakeport will take place at the hospital from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 15.
“We have been on the front lines before and during this pandemic,” said Amy Erb, critical care RN at California Pacific Medical Center of San Francisco. “Throughout this time, we have witnessed Sutter Health become profitable while they refuse to invest in the resources we need in order for us to provide safe and effective care to our patients and community.”
Nurses notified Sutter Health corporate officials on March 4 that they would hold an informational picket.
The unions said Sutter Health RNs have been in contract negotiations since June 2021 for a new contract with little to no movement on key issues.
The RNs are asking Sutter’s management to invest in nursing staff and agree to a contract that provides safe staffing that allows nurses to provide safe and therapeutic care; pandemic readiness protections that require the hospitals to invest in personal protective equipment stockpiles and comply with California's PPE stockpile law; presumptive eligibility for workers’ compensation that covers infectious diseases and protocols that ensure nurses have the resources needed to keep their patients and themselves safe; and workplace violence protections that include plans to mitigate and prevent violence within the hospitals and comply with the state's workplace violence prevention law.
“Sutter Health is not investing in us, the nurses, or the community they should be serving,” said Renee Waters, RN in the trauma neuro intensive care unit at Sutter Roseville. “Instead, they are frequently using the word ‘commitment’ in their responses to us without actually agreeing to proposals that hold them accountable. Sutter failed us during the pandemic. Our proposals are intended to correct Sutter’s gaps in pandemic readiness and workplace violence prevention. We want to have a proactive approach to the protections we deserve. We need Sutter to back up their statements that we are heroes and valued, with agreements to our proposals at the bargaining table.”
Nurses plan picket at Sutter Lakeside March 15
- LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
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