Hospital Nurses Poised to Strike Thursday

Members of the California Nurses Union plan to strike Thursday at hospitals up and down the state, including at , according to media reports and posts on the hospital’s website.

Sutter Health, which runs Novato Community Hospital, has a note on its site saying it has “taken steps to ensure quality patient care will not be disrupted. Qualified replacement registered nurses will be on hand during the strike and transition period. The replacement agencies require a minimum number of days.”

CBS 5 in San Francisco is reporting that members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United are staging the strike saying “they will not accept attacks on RN rights to speak out for patients or cuts in healthcare or retiree coverage for nurses or other hospital workers.”

Since 2005, Sutter has amassed more than $3.7 billion in net income and $11.6 billion in assets, according to National Nurses United’s website. The union said almost $98 million in salary to its 18 top executives from 2005 to 2009, an average of $1.1 million per year.

The union has proposed contract demands include a doubling the pension benefit costs made by the employer, free healthcare for life upon retirement and no wage cuts.

Sutter officials say those demands would increase costs at Sutter hospitals by tens of millions of dollars each year. The Novato nurses  receive an average salary of $136,000 per year and pension benefits averaging $84,000 per year after retirement, according to Sutter Health. Most have an option of 100 percent employer-paid health benefits/or receives low-cost health benefits, the medical group said.

A spokeswoman for Novato Community Hospital did not return calls Wednesday. A receptionist said negotiating teams were in meetings.