Ms. Magazine, August 20, 2010 The California Nurses Association (CNA) is bringing a class-action lawsuit against California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC), and Sutter Health, CPMC's overseeing company, for intentionally engaging in hiring discrimination against Filipina nurses. Three medical center employees submitted statements to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission claiming that between 2007 and 2009, they were instructed not to hire Filipino nurses at CPMC's Saint Luke's campus, stated the LA Times. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the registered nurses union at the hospital reported that the percentage of Filipino nurses hired at the facility dropped ... Filipina

Associated Press, August 20, 2010 San Francisco - The California Nurses Association is suing a San Francisco hospital claiming discrimination because managers refused to hire Filipino nurses. The suit was filed Thursday against Sacramento-based Sutter Health and the company's California Pacific Medical Center. Union leaders and Filipino activists in the Bay Area also want the San Francisco Human Rights Commission to investigate the discrimination claims. Three former managers at California Pacific Medical Center say supervisors told them not to hire Filipino nurses between 2007 and 2009. The union says the percentage of Filipino nurses at the hospital dropped from 65 percent to 10 percent in 2008. Hospital chief Warren Browner says the allegations are dishonest and without merit.

Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times, August 19, 2010 The California Nurses Assn. has filed a class-action grievance against Sacramento-based Sutter Health and the company’s California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, alleging that hospital managers refused to hire Filipino nurses. On Thursday, union officials and Bay Area Filipino activists called on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission to investigate the discrimination claims. Three former managers at California Pacific Medical Center, which also operates Saint Luke’s Hospital, submitted statements to the commission alleging that between 2007 and 2009, supervisors told them not to hire ... California

Designed to Cover CNA Negotiation Failures. San Francisco Sentinel, August 19, 2010 It’s sad and disappointing to see the California Nurses Association stoop so low as to manufacture false claims of discrimination against Sutter Health and its San Francisco hospitals. Unfortunately, some union leaders feel that if they can’t make progress at the negotiating table, they will set the table on fire with fake charges against management. That’s what happened today when CNA labor rep Nato Green and other union leaders made false charges claiming discrimination against Filipinos at Sutter hospitals. The hospital fought back aggressively and make it clear that this type of CNA BS won’t fly ... False

California Nurses Association, August 19, 2010 One of San Francisco’s biggest hospitals, Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center, is engaged in systematic discrimination against the hiring of Filipino registered nurses, the California Nurses Association, joined by Filipino community and church groups and leaders, charged Thursday. The groups are calling for an investigation by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. In a letter to the Commission Wednesday, CNA filed a complaint charging Sutter and CPMC with employment discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity ... RNs

RNs Charge Hospital Wants to Force Employees to Pay Cost for Mismanagement that Undermines Patient Care. California Nurses Association, August 17, 2010 Registered nurses from Children's Hospital Oakland, joined by other hospital employees, will rally outside the facility Wednesday, August 18 to protest management efforts to sharply reduce current healthcare coverage for nurses and their families. Children's has signaled that they also intend to demand cuts in health benefits for other hospital workers as well. ... Children

James Figueroa, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, August 17, 2010 Registered nurses at Citrus Valley Medical Center have filed a petition to remove the California Nurses Association as their collective bargaining representation. The move comes after a protracted deadlock that has left nurses without a new contract since the beginning of the year. The decertification petition was filed Friday with the National Labor Relations Board, and has support from at least 30 percent of the 800 nurses represented by CNA. The NLRB has scheduled a hearing on the petition for August 24 in its Los Angeles office, but the nurses could decide the matter before then with a majority vote in a special election ... San

Event to Honor Women’s Votes, Suffragists Values, Challenge Whitman for Dishonoring Women’s Progress through Poor Voting Record and Wall Street Agenda. California Nurses Association, August 16, 2010 A growing cross section of California women’s, labor and community groups will be joining thousands of registered nurses in Sacramento, California August 26, to mark the 90th anniversary of women securing the right to vote with a modern day suffrage celebration. Participants will march, many in period costume, from the Sacramento Convention Center to a rally on the West Steps of the State Capitol. ... Wide

Patrick Monette-Shaw, SF Hospital Examiner, August 14, 2010 A coalition that includes the California Nurses Association is fighting California Pacific Medical Center’s (CPMC) plan to eliminate skilled nursing services at Saint Luke’s Hospital. CPMC’s plans have outraged San Franciscans concerned about the 30 percentage shortage of available skilled nursing beds in San Francisco. A well-attended rally held Thursday - sponsored by the California Nurses Association (CNA), the Coalition for Health Planning San Francisco, and the Good Neighbor Coalition - continues CNA’s and other organization’s efforts ... Nurses

James Parks, AFL-CIO, August 13, 2010 On August 26, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) will host a 90th anniversary celebration of a woman’s right to vote with a huge march and rally in Sacramento. One person not invited to the celebration is Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor of the Golden State. Queen Meg, who is spending $150 million of her own money to move into the governor’s mansion, has admitted that she hasn’t voted in nearly 30 years. ... Join

State regulators are investigating the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Documents provided by the California Nurses Association allege some patients at the center have received sub-par care as a result. UC Davis Officials deny those charges. John Sepulvado, Capital Public Radio, August 11, 2010 Sacramento - State regulators are investigating the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. The California Department of Public Health is looking at whether the center met staffing regulations. They are also examining whether nurse understaffing undermined patient care, according to interviews conducted with several staff nurses. Documents provided by the California Nurses Association allege ... Documents

100 jam county board meeting. Joshua Molina, Ventura County Star, August 10, 2010 In a dramatic show of unity, more than 100 Ventura County Medical Center nurses packed the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday demanding “respect,” amid broken-down salary negotiations over a new contract. The county and the California Nurses Association reached an impasse last week, after 17 meetings going back to October 2009. “A pay cut right now for my family would not be feasible,” said Tasha Thomas, a registered nurse for eight years. “It’s a big sacrifice. I am the sole provider for my family.” ... Nurses

Rose Ann DeMoro, California Progress Report, August 5, 2010 Amidst the nation's worst economic recession since the Great Depression, and continuing problems in California with health care, education funding, home foreclosures, and lack of jobs, how do you explain the disgraceful spending by candidate Meg Whitman in her campaign to buy the governor's office. According to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday, Whitman has spent $99.7 million the past two years, a figure that the Associated Press notes climbs to $100.3 million when including donated services. Those numbers, which shatter campaign spending records in California and presumably exceed the amount any candidate ... What

According to two UC Davis nurses, CDPH investigators are auditing records for the past year. John Sepulvado, Capital Public Radio, August 3, 2010 Sacramento - Capital Public Radio has learned state regulators are investigating the UC Davis Medical Center. At issue, whether nurse staffing levels followed the law, and whether a shortage of nurses undermined patient care. The California Department of Public Health confirmed an investigation. The agency would not comment further. Two nurses at UC Davis tell Capital Public Radio they have been questioned by the department in the past thirty days, and were asked about chronic nurse understaffing. ... UC

Eileen Prendiville, Labor Notes, July 30, 2010 When billionaire Meg Whitman, who has never held any political office and seldom even bothers to vote, decided to use her personal fortune to run for California’s highest office, the California Nurses Association challenged her with political satire. Drawing on a history of street theater and direct action that defeated outgoing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s worst anti-worker ideas, CNA hired an actress for the “Queen Meg 2010” campaign. With her entourage of nurses in red scrubs and blond wigs, Queen Meg followed Whitman to high-ticket fundraisers during the primary election, mocking her enormous wealth ... California