California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 25, 2011 The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United today condemned the early morning police raid on the peaceful Occupy Oakland encampment, and criticized Oakland Mayor Jean Quan for joining the list of mayors employing repression against the occupy movement.

 According to press reports, police stormed the encampment near Oakland’s City Hall well before dawn, with billy clubs and shotguns, uprooting tents and making multiple arrests. ... California

Jared Nakawatase, RN, Rafu Shimpo, October 20, 2011 Nurses treat the victims of the financial meltdown and recession every day. These patients stream into our hospitals, psych units and jails. We see increases in stress-induced heart ailments in young people, hypertension, pancreatic and gut disorders such as colitis. Mental illnesses and anxiety disorders have been linked to a lack of access to health care, unemployment, poverty and homelessness. Coincidentally, hypertension and its related diseases account for 34 percent of deaths in Asian Pacific Islanders and is a leading cause of mortality. ... Tax

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 20, 2011 Registered nurse members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United began their humanitarian program Thursday morning to support Occupy SF - part of an escalating program CNA and its national affiliate NNU have established in four cities as the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow. The San Francisco first aid station went up early this morning at Justin Herman Plaza, with nurse volunteers from San Francisco, the East Bay and North Bay arriving to participate in the program. Within minutes they were providing basic first aid ... California

Lori Consalvo, Contra Costa Times, October 17, 2011 San Dimas - Nurses, electricians and community members rallied against an Ontario-based heath care agency for at least an hour Monday near San Dimas Community Hospital. The group protested the business practices of Prime Healthcare Services, Inc., specifically over pay rates, work conditions and hours as well as not recognizing area construction standards. Prime Healthcare, which operates the hospital, was also criticized for bringing in non-contract staff members for current and future projects as well as for not negotiating a new contract with the United Nurses Association of California/Union of Healthcare Professionals. ... Nurses

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 10, 2011 Fresno County public health nurses will picket outside a meeting of the Board of Supervisors Tuesday to protest drastic cuts in public-health nursing that they say represent a disgraceful abandonment of the most vulnerable and at-risk patients in the county. ... Public

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 7, 2011

 The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United today praised the decision by California Governor Jerry Brown to sign an important workplace safety bill to protect registered nurses and other healthcare employees from disabling injuries and safeguard patients from preventable falls. AB 1136 (Swanson), sponsored by CNA/NNU, requires all California hospitals to have a safe patient handling policy, including “lift teams” trained to move patients using proper lift equipment. Earlier versions of the bill were vetoed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ... RNs

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, October 5, 2011
 
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United filed formal federal charges late Tuesday that Sutter corporation through its hospital affiliates conducted an illegal lockout following a one-day strike last month that violated the legal rights of Sutter RNs. 

In a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board, CNA details how Sutter broke federal labor law through employer fraud to justify its unwarranted and illegal lockout and illegal retaliation against the nurses for exercise of their lawful rights to strike. ... Nurses

Doug Cunningham, Workers Independent News, September 27, 2011 The lockout of union nurses at Sutter hospitals in California is supposed to end today. Authorities meanwhile are investigating the death of a patient at the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. The patient reportedly died after getting a “non-prescribed dosage” of a medical drug by one of the replacements hired to fill in when thousands of nurses went on a one-day strike. The nurses were locked out when they tried to return from strike. The California Nurses Association has filed a complaint with the state Department of Public Health. ... California

Cal Winslow, Beyond Chron, September 26, 2011 California healthcare workers have now taken their fight to another level – on Thursday, September 22, some 21,000 struck the huge Kaiser Permanente chain, 24 major medical centers – while more struck Sutter, Kaiser’s healthcare partner in crime, also a giant in the California hospital business. It was the biggest single strike in healthcare history! It is difficult to exaggerate the significance of these strikes. In the face of a deafening chorus preaching austerity, of the near universal demand – from corporations to politicians - for concessions, these workers have said no; no they will not give back ... CNA

David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle, September 25, 2011 Oakland - Veteran nurses locked out of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland said Sunday that the death of a patient due to a medical error by a replacement worker wouldn't have happened if they had been allowed to do their jobs. The hospital's management countered that it was a freak accident that could have happened at any time - with or without the replacement nurses. At the center of the dispute is a cancer patient, a woman who has not been identified but whose tragic death on Saturday has inflamed an already tense labor dispute. ... Oakland

Candlelight Vigil Set Sunday Night at Oakland’s Summit Hospital. California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, September 25, 2011 The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United today called on Sutter corporation to immediately end the unsafe lockout of its regularly scheduled nurses following media confirmation of a patient death while under the care of a strike replacement RN, as well as reports of other serious problems involving strike replacement RNs. RNs will hold a memorial candlelight vigil Sunday night and to press Sutter executives to end the lockout. ... RNs

Sergio Quintana, KGO, September 25, 2011 Oakland - The labor dispute at several Bay Area hospitals is heating up after a patient died at Alta Bates Medical Center in Oakland at the hands of a replacement nurse. The nurse was hired to fill in for one that was striking as part of a benefits and labor dispute. The death of the patient on Saturday has intensified calls by union nurses at Alta Bates Summit Hospital to let them get back to work. A pair of nurses who work in the unit where the patient died said his loss was one that didn't have to happen. ... Police

John S. Marshall, Associated Press, September 25, 2011 San Francisco - Authorities were investigating the death of a patient who was given a "non-prescribed dosage" of a medical drug by a replacement hired when thousands of nurses went on strike across California, an Oakland police spokeswoman said Sunday. Spokeswoman Johnna Watson did not release details of the incident at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. The patient died Saturday, two days after the nurses walked out during the labor dispute on Thursday. Many were not allowed to return to work on Friday. ... Patient

FoxReno.com, September 25, 2011 Oakland - Police were investigating the death of an East Bay patient Saturday morning that hospital officials say was fatally dosed with an unknown medication by a replacement nurse brought in from out-of-state during a recent nurse strike. Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland is where police were called early Saturday morning to investigate the death of a 66-year-old woman. The woman was a cancer patient who had been receiving treatment at Alta Bates since July. Oakland Police said that on Saturday morning, one of the nurses here made a fatal medical error ... Death

Mark Brenner & Mischa Gaus, Labor Notes, September 23, 2011 Sparking the biggest strike ever at California health care giant Kaiser Permanente, 4,000 members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers took to picket lines Wednesday through Friday. They were joined on sympathy strikes by 17,000 nurses across California, including thousands at Kaiser facilities in Northern California who settled their contract last year. Striking NUHW members included professional and technical groups in both Northern and Southern California, as well as RNs at the Los Angeles Medical Center who have held two short strikes already this year. ... 21,000