Steven T. Jones, San Francisco Bay Guardian, February 4, 2010 CPMC has long sought to build this Cathedral Hill hospital at the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard. Against the backdrop of plans by Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center to build a new hospital on Cathedral Hill and rebuild its seismically vulnerable Saint Luke’s Hospital, CPMC has been at a contract-negotiating impasse with its nurses union for almost three years. This week, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that CPMC “has been failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith,” setting a May 3 hearing before an administrative law judge ... CPMC

Trial to Begin May 3rd. California Nurses Association, February 2, 2010 Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center (Sutter/CPMC) is facing an upcoming trial over the unilateral imposition on January 1, 2010 of an unlawful health plan on registered nurses and other workers. The National Labor Relations Board today announced that it will bring Sutter/CPMC to trial over the plan, with the possibility that Sutter will have to cancel the health plan - which covers about 7000 employees and their families (case numbers 20-CA-34705 and 20-CA-34737) - for CNA-represented RNs. ... Federal

KTVU, February 2, 2010 San Francisco - A team of 15 nurses, surgeons and other specialists from several Bay Area hospitals have returned from more than a week in Haiti, treating earthquake victims amidst power outages and primitive conditions in a hospital outside Port-au-Prince. Members of the surgical team, who regularly work at Sutter Health facilities in the area, gathered at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco Tuesday to share details of their experience. Anesthesiologist John Donovan called the situation "an orthopedic disaster." Many survivors of the devastating January 12 earthquake suffered crushed limbs that required serious treatment or amputation. ... Bay

BNA Daily Labor Report, November 3, 2009

Catholic Healthcare West and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee late October 30 reached agreement on new four-year contracts for some 12,000 registered nurses at 32 facilities in California and Nevada that include “historic and industry leading language” assuring that nurses will receive education and equipment to deal with the H1N1 flu and other pandemics, the union announced November 2.

Steve Gorman, Reuters, November 2, 2009 Los Angeles - After months of talks, the largest US nurses union and California's biggest nonprofit healthcare chain have agreed to safeguards that the nurses believe may serve as a national model for curbing H1N1 swine flu in hospitals. The H1N1 pact, announced on Monday as part of a contract settlement between the California Nurses Association and Catholic Healthcare West, averted a one-day strike threatened by thousands of registered nurses at more than 30 hospitals. Already one of the most powerful political forces in California, the CNA is working to merge soon with the UAN and the Massachusetts Nurses Association ... Nurses

RNs: "Every Hospital Should Take Same Steps to Contain Swine Flu." California Nurses Association, November 2, 2009 In a dramatic settlement seen as a novel pattern for the nation, the nation's largest nurses union and professional association, and one of the country's biggest hospital systems, today announced a landmark agreement that sets a national standard on containing the spread of pandemics such as H1N1 "swine flu". ... Dramatic

Doug Cunningham, Workers Independent News, October 28, 2009 The California Nurses Association had been planning a one-day strike Friday to protest what union says is poor readiness by many hospitals to confront the H1N1 flue virus. As many as 16,000 registered nurses from three large Catholic hospital chains were to participate at hospitals across California. Negotiations currently underway, though, may change that strike plan. The CNA isn’t commenting publicly about it pending the outcome of the talks. ... California

California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, October 22, 2009 This week's announcement of a major nurses strike over inadequate hospital protections for the H1N1 pandemic has prompted California officials to finally release millions of safety masks it had been holding, and removes one more excuse for hospitals in meeting the highest public safety protections, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) said today. Earlier today Governor Schwarzenegger made what CNA/NNOC executive director Rose Ann DeMoro called ... RNs

Registered Nurse Advisory Committee awarded $60,000 to foster effective collaboration and improve organizational effectiveness. United Nurses Associations of California, October 22, 2009 The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP), in a collaborative effort with Parkview Community Hospital and Medical Center in Riverside, CA, has been awarded a $60,000 grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). The grant, to be used by the hospital’s Registered Nurse Advisory Committee (RNAC), will help foster positive and effective labor-management communication and cooperation ... United

Jondi Gumz, Santa Cruz Sentinel, October 20, 2009 Santa Cruz - Frustrated by prolonged contract negotiations, the California Nurses Association on Monday announced a one-day strike at Dominican Hospital starting 7 AM October 30. The strike, ending at 7 AM October 31, will affect two-dozen hospitals affiliated with Catholic Healthcare West and three others affiliated with Daughters of Charity, including O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, Seton Medical Center in Daly City and Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy. "This is the longest negotiation we've ever had with them," said Lorna Grundeman, a nurse at Dominican for 21 years and one of the bargaining representatives ... Nurses

One-Day Event at 39 California, Nevada Hospitals Is Focused on Swine-Flu Precautions.
Kris Maher, Wall Street Journal, October 20, 2009

A union is threatening a one-day strike involving 16,000 registered nurses at 39 hospitals in California and Nevada, saying hospitals aren't providing enough protections against swine flu for its members.

The 86,000 member California Nurses Association, which covers all 50 states and is the nation's largest union representing nurses, is negotiating contracts that expired in June, covering 13,000 nurses.

Seth Michaels, AFL-CIO, October 19, 2009 Some 16,000 registered nurses, members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), are concerned that hospitals across California and Nevada aren’t doing enough to prepare for H1N1 flu, including adopting new safety standards put forth by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) and guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They’re demanding proper equipment and procedures to treat patients with H1N1 symptoms and make sure that nurses and other patients don’t get sick. It’s a potential crisis that must be addressed now ... Nurses

California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, October 19, 2009 San Francisco - Some 16,000 registered nurses at 39 hospitals at three Catholic hospital chains in California and Nevada will join a one-day strike and picket October 30 as RNs step up the protest over poor readiness by many hospitals to confront the H1N1 pandemic, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) announced today. The strike will affect hospitals across California from San Bernardino and Long Beach in the south to Eureka and Redding in the north, and include major facilities in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco ... Major

Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times, October 19, 2009 More than 16,000 registered nurses are locked in a contract dispute with officials at 37 Catholic hospitals statewide and plan to strike October 30 out of concern that the hospitals’ lax safety standards put them at risk of catching H1N1 flu. The California Nurses Association, which is in bargaining talks with San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West hospitals, announced the strike this morning. Local hospitals expected to be affected include California Hospital Medical Center, Saint Vincent Medical Center, Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center, Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach ... Nurses

Jim Steinberg, Contra Costa Times, October 19, 2009 Three area hospitals have been targeted for a one-day strike and picketing October 30 as the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee said it was protesting poor readiness for the H1N1 flu pandemic. The strike will affect as many as 16,000 registered nurses in 39 facilities in California and Nevada. All the hospitals affected are members of three large Catholic hospital chains. These hospitals were selected for the strike because there are ongoing contract negotiations with those facilities, said Shum Preston, spokesman for the CNA/NNOC. ... Nurses