Starting this morning, members of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United are calling on Sutter Health to provide a workplace violence prevention plan in each unit and give resources workers need to do their jobs properly, in efforts to combat the "mass exodus" of nurses the medical center is facing.
Nurses will picket at the medical center's Oakland and Berkeley campuses, starting this morning at 7 a.m.
Mike Hill, a nurse in the center's intensive care unit, told Bay City News, "I am seeing nurses leave the medical center for other nursing
positions on a regular basis. We have nurses working overtime, and even double shifts day after day to keep the hospital running.”
He added that Sutter do more to create work conditions that enhance patient care, in addition to providing a safe work environment that retains nurses.
A Sutter Health spokesperson said earlier this month that the health care provider is "disappointed" in union members for choosing to "disregard" their patients.
A Sutter Health spokesperson said in a statement that Alta Bates management remains committed to “providing the community with critical services and high-quality, safe patient care during a strike.”
