California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, June 26, 2008 Oakland - The nation's largest organization of registered nurses, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, today endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. In announcing its endorsement, the 80,000-member CNA/NNOC (AFL-CIO), which has members in all 50 states, cited "a stark distinction between Senator Obama and Senator John McCain on major fundamental issues facing the American people today, especially in reforming our broken healthcare system ..." California

DeAnn McEwen wants universal health care for all Americans. Courtney Perkes, Orange County Register, June 16, 2008 DeAnn McEwen, a 57-year-old nurse from Cypress, will travel to San Francisco on Thursday to protest at an insurance industry convention in support of universal health care. McEwen sees rallies and protests as an extension of her job treating critical care patients at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. She will demonstrate at the American Health Insurance Plans convention on behalf of the California Nurses Association. Here she discusses her view of the health care system and the changes she would like to see ... OC

Los Angeles Business, May 23, 2008 Claiming that they are understaffed and overworked, nurses at a Tenet Healthcare Corp.'s Placentia-Linda Hospital have taken steps to form a union. Nurses at the Orange County hospital filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board to join the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. Placentia-Linda nurses, which previously attempted to form a union in 2003, said hospital management won't address issues such as unsafe staffing levels and assigning patients without considering the level of care they need. ... Placentia-Linda

California Nurses Association, May 13, 2008 Los Angeles - The California Nurses Association and Courage Campaign have released a new ad branding the California Republican Party as the "Yacht Party" for its continued support of a tax loophole that allows buyers of yachts and private jets to avoid paying sales tax in California. The ad, titled "Yacht Party 2," will air tonight in Sacramento the day before Governor Schwarzenegger presents his revised budget cuts to reduce what he estimates is a $20 billion state budget deficit. ... California

National Nurses Movement is Leading Proponent for Single-Payer Healthcare Reforms - 'Medicare for All'. California Nurses Association, May 8, 2008 Oakland - Turning their camera on the fastest-growing union in America - and the nation's largest union of RNs - Bill Moyers' Journal will feature the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee's fight for guaranteed, single-payer healthcare in an episode scheduled to air this Friday at 9 PM EDT (check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/about/airdates.html). ... Bill

Kathy Robertson, San Francisco Business Times, April 25, 2008 In what could become a victory for organized labor with repercussions for all public employees in California, the California Nurses Association is poised to win the next round in a lengthy legal fight over the right to strike against University of California medical campuses and to bargain over staffing and other patient care issues. The state Public Employee Relations Board issued a proposed decision April 18 that would hold that unfair-labor-practice strikes by public employees are permitted under state law. ... Proposed

Service Employees International Union, April 25, 2008 San Diego - Registered nurses at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas voted out the California Nurses Association (CNA) as their union in an election this week. The decision by Scripps nurses to eject the CNA follows contract negotiations that didn't result in real improvements for nurses or patient care. "Scripps nurses' vote to oust the CNA should be a wake up call to the union," said Lorraine Thiebaud, a registered nurse in San Francisco General Hospital's recovery unit and member of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1021. ... After

Jun Ilagan, INQUIRER.net, April 10, 2008 San Leandro – ‘Safe Staffing Saves Lives.’ ‘Retirement with Dignity.’ ‘Sutter Puts Profits Before Patients.’ These protest slogans displayed during the candlelight vigil in front of this city’s San Leandro Hospital seemed to be saying the same thing. Similarly, the issues that the 4,000-strong California Nurses Association took to the streets from March 21 to 30 against the employer, Sutter Health Corporation, were identical to those it presented in two strikes staged in the last six months. ... Stalemate

Roland M. Katz, Contra Costa Times, April 4, 2008 The Times missed the mark in two recent editorials, its March 24 "Find the total cost" and its March 13 opinion regarding the then-pending strike by registered nurses employed by Contra Costa County. The Times' March 24 editorial mistakenly asserts that public agencies enter into collective bargaining agreements not knowing the cost of benefits. Nothing could be further from the truth. Knowing the cost of benefits, as absolute numbers, as a percentage of payroll and as a percentage of salary is not a new idea and has been a subject at negotiations between Contra Costa County and the unions that represent its employees. ... Times

Jack Katzanek, Press-Enterprise, April 3, 2008 More than 800 nurses who have specialty jobs at Southern California's Kaiser Permanente hospitals could walk off their jobs for five days starting Monday in a dispute over failed contract talks, a union representative said. The group includes 83 nurses at Kaiser Permanente's Fontana Medical Center and its sister hospital in Ontario and 65 at the hospital in Riverside, representatives of the medical group said Thursday. These registered nurses, called "specialty practice units," do behind-the-scenes work that include evaluations for admitting and discharges, case management and midwife work in delivery rooms. ... Kaiser

Josh Dulaney, San Bernardino Sun, April 1, 2008 Fontana - About 80 specialty nurses at Kaiser Permanente plan to strike Monday, as part of an 800-member union walkout in Southern California, according to a union spokeswoman. They will do so if the hospital continues its push for the elimination of employer-provided retirement benefits. "The rest of corporate America is attacking retirement benefits, and it's a disappointment that Kaiser Permanente is participating," said Laureen Lazarovici, communications director for United Nurses Association of California/United Healthcare Professionals. ... Dozens

San Jose Mercury News, April 1, 2008 Thousands of Bay Area nurses went back to work Monday after staging a 10-day regional strike at Sutter Health hospitals. Affected Sutter hospitals in the East Bay included San Leandro Hospital, Alta Bates-Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley and Sutter Delta in Antioch. Also affected were Saint Luke's Hospital and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame and San Mateo and Sutter Solano in Vallejo. ... Sutter

Putting profits ahead of patient needs. Rafael Azul, World Socialist Web Site, March 31, 2008 A 10-day strike and lock-out that involves 4,500 nurses in northern California, members of the California Nurses Association (CNA), which will end on March 31, clearly illustrates the reality of a healthcare system that exists primarily to generate profits at the expense of workers and patients. The strike targeted 8 out of the 28 hospitals affiliated with the Sutter Medical Foundation, a company that is based in Sacramento, California. ... Behind

New contract provides salary boosts, staffing protections for nurses at UC medical centers. Jesse Alm, UCSD Guardian, March 31, 2008 The California Nurses Association announced last week that the 10,000 registered nurses employed at University of California medical centers have ratified a new three-year contract, marking the end of an 11-month bargaining process between CNA and the university. The contract, which expires in September 2010, includes a 6-percent wage increase across the board, increases of up to 8 percent at student health centers and additional raises for UCSD and UC Irvine nurses, who are the lowest-paid in the UC system. ... Nurses

North County Times, March 31, 2008 Encinitas - Registered nurses at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas have ratified a new two-year collective bargaining agreement with the hospital, officials said. Under the terms of the agreement, which was ratified Thursday, Scripps registered nurses will receive pay increases of up to 20 percent over the two years of the agreement, as well as increased compensation for registered nurses who help train new nurses. The contract could lead to improvements in patient care, according to a statement by the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organization.