Thousands of unionized registered nurses have voted to go on strike in California, citing COVID-19 burnout and the failure of two hospitals to give them fair contracts.
The Committee for the Recognition of Union Achievement, an independent union representing nearly 5,000 bedside nurses at Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, said 93% of all eligible nurses — about 4,500 — voted on Thursday night to authorize the strike.
“The decision by members to overwhelmingly authorize a strike shows that we are fed up with the status quo of working conditions at the hospitals,” Colleen Borges, the union’s president said in a statement Friday.
“We need contracts that allow us to care for ourselves and our families so we can continue providing world-class care,” said Ms. Borges, a nurse in the pediatric oncology department.
The nurses are asking for base hourly wage increases, student loan reimbursements and a no-cost medical plan that covers their children and spouses.
Their contract demands also include “anti-bias training,” more control over scheduling weekend shifts and increased access to mental health counseling.
This month’s strike comes after 30 bargaining sessions during the past 13 weeks failed to produce a new contract. The nurses have been working under their previous contract since it expired on March 31.
The two hospitals did not respond Friday to a request for comment.
Stanford University School of Medicine spokesperson Julie Greicius told The Stanford Daily in a March 10 article that the hospitals believed they had made fair contract offers.
Ms. Greicius said that the hospitals “offered proposals” to the nurses “that increase our investment and preserve their place among the highest compensated and best-supported nursing teams in America.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nurses in the San Francisco Bay Area are among the highest-paid in the nation.
BLS statistics show that registered nurses in the Bay Area, including Stanford, made an average annual salary of $149,200 in May 2020 at the outset of the pandemic — nearly double the national average of $80,010.
SEE ALSO: California nurses cite COVID-19 burnout for looming strike
Stanford’s nurses began insisting on a better contract after the death of Michael Odell, a 27-year-old Stanford critical care nurse. Two days after he walked off his shift at 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 18, his body was discovered in an apparent suicide.
The nurses delivered their revised contract demands to officials on Feb. 2.
Mark O’Neill, a post-cardiothoracic surgical nurse who attended the twice-weekly bargaining sessions, said in a statement Friday that the nurses felt provoked by the strain of increased workloads during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s unconscionable that the hospitals tell overworked and exhausted nurses that we need to be more available for work after two years of grueling conditions,” Mr. O’Neill said.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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