Greater than 22,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and nurse practitioners plan to stage a two-hour picket at Kaiser amenities all through California subsequent week, claiming they’re understaffed and dealing with security considerations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A lot of the Thursday, Sept. 1 protests will happen at 21 Kaiser hospitals in Northern California, though one other one can be held at Los Angeles Medical Heart in Hollywood the place about 1,200 nurses are employed.
The employees, represented by California Nurses Affiliation/Nationwide Nurses United, notified Kaiser of the protest final week.
The picket comes on the heels of a one-day strike nurses staged on the L.A. hospital in June, voicing the identical considerations.
Their contract expired Sept. 30, 2021. The union has been negotiating for a brand new labor settlement since June with little to no motion on key points, union officers mentioned.
“We'd like extra nurses to offer the care our sufferers deserve,” mentioned CNA President Cathy Kennedy, a nurse within the neonatal intensive care unit at Kaiser Roseville. “There's merely no purpose or excuse for nurses to be short-staffed this lengthy into the pandemic.”
In an announcement issued Friday, Kaiser mentioned it's in energetic bargaining with the union and confused that the Sept. 1 motion is just not a strike and received’t influence operations on the hospital.
“We imagine that by working along with the unions that signify our workers, together with our wonderful nurses, we are going to proceed to attain the perfect outcomes for our members, sufferers and the communities who rely upon Kaiser Permanente for his or her well being care wants — and assist to maintain Kaiser Permanente as an ideal place to work for all,” the assertion mentioned.
Kaiser added that it’s working to achieve a “truthful and equitable settlement” with market-competitive advantages and wages.
Tinny Abogado, a nurse within the transitional care unit at Kaiser’s Los Angeles hospital, mentioned the corporate has failed to offer satisfactory protecting gear and guarantee protected procedures amid the well being disaster.
She mentioned there is no such thing as a assure that nurses will obtain COVID-19 testing. In addition they want sick go away following publicity to the virus.
“Sadly, after years of placing our lives and communities in danger, Kaiser has nonetheless failed to offer these ensures in our contract,” Abogado mentioned.
The nurses are in search of three major ensures:
- Well being and security provisions that deal with the risks of infectious illnesses
- Office violence prevention requirements that shield frontline nurses
- Minimal staffing pointers that guarantee protected affected person care
Throughout the June strike, Abogado mentioned 50 nurses had left the hospital as a result of poor working situations — a transfer that put affected person care in jeopardy. RNs, she mentioned, typically work 12-hour shifts and not using a break.
“It pains me to see skilled nurses go away our hospital,” she mentioned. “They come up with the money for to verify we have now syringes once we want them, ancillary employees to assist take care of our sufferers and aid nurses to offer RNs with meal breaks.”
Thursday’s different protests can be held at Kaiser hospitals in Antioch, Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose, amongst different places.
Kaiser nurses aren’t the one ones calling for elevated staffing.
Staff at Fountain View Subacute and Nursing Heart in Los Angeles picketed the ability final month, saying they’re understaffed, in want of upper wages and grappling with excessive turnover.
Almost 7,000 L.A. County nurses reached a labor settlement with the county in Could, narrowing averting an unfair labor apply strike that was set to start the next month.
The employees, represented by SEIU 721, cast an Eleventh-hour deal that referred to as for stronger job protections and fewer outsourcing of jobs at county hospitals and healthcare amenities, whereas additionally locking in aggressive wages to retain nurses.