OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Nurses Association today condemned the decision of the Sutter Health corporation to lock out thousands of Registered Nurses and other caregivers at 13 Sutter hospitals in Northern California. Sutter barred RNs and other employees this morning who were attempting to return to the hospital bedside following a one-day strike by 7,000 caregivers, members of CNA and Health Care Workers (SEIU) Local 250, called to demand improved care in Sutter hospitals.
CNA and SEIU will jointly sponsor a press conference Friday at 12 noon at the Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1001 Van Ness, in San Francisco
“The decision by Sutter’s corporate executives to bar patient access to their caregivers is an outrageous slap in the face to the patients and the communities that Sutter purports to represent,” said CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.
“This lockout is a clear demonstration of what is wrong when large corporate chains, such as Sutter, that take over community hospitals, care more about their bottom line than community based service. It’s the Wal-Martization of our healthcare delivery system,” DeMoro said.
With the lockout, said DeMoro, “It’s apparent that Sutter would rather displace and punish the RNs and other workers who have devoted years of service to their communities than work with us to improve the quality of care in Sutter hospitals.”
Additionally, the lockout of RNs is illegal and a violation of Sutter’s collective bargaining agreement with CNA at several of its hospitals, DeMoro said. CNA has filed formal unfair labor practice charges with the federal labor board.
DeMoro said Sutter’s action today “will sharply escalate the tensions between Sutter and its RNs.” CNA has worked for months to persuade Sutter to address serious patient care problems that exist throughout the Sutter system.
“Sutter has consistently failed to meet the minimum patient safety standards mandated by the RN staffing ratio law,” and most recently failed a hospital accreditation survey at one of its hospitals, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, DeMoro noted.
California Nurses Association
CONTACT: Charles Idelson, +1-510-273-2246 or mobile, +1-415-559-8991,for California Nurses Association
Web site: http://www.calnurse.org/