More than 8,000 Sutter Health nurses and registered health care workers joined Monday’s strike. Fifteen Bay Area hospitals will be affected by picketing. Sites include two California Pacific Medical Centers in San Francisco, and three locations of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland.
Last month, workers reached a near unanimous vote to strike if their demands for increased staffing and guaranteed PPE were not met. Since June 2021, nurses and health care workers have been in contract negotiations with Sutter Health to meet their demands.
The strike is not intended to disrupt patient care. Since health care work is essential - meaning people’s lives depend on it– union organizers gave advance notice of Monday’s action. Temporary contract workers were hired to fill in for regular employees. Medical care continued as normal.
Picketing took place Monday morning and ended at six pm. The California Nurses Association says bargaining with Sutter took place over the weekend but a settlement for a new contract is ongoing.
Here is the list of locations where the strike is happening.