Sutter nurses threaten to strike

After several weeks of fruitless discussion, the California Nurses Association has warned Sutter Health that it nurses plan to stage a two-day walkout in mid-December. Hospitals affected include California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland and Burlingame's Peninsula Medical Center. The walkout reprises an earlier two-day strike in October, under which 5,000 Sutter nurses at 13 hospitals left their jobs. The two parties have been in talks since then, but the two sides are still pretty far apart. To date, the nurses still cite issues of patient safety, nurse staffing ratios, medical benefits, pension improvements and questions over ongoing operations of community hospitals as reasons for the conflict.

To find out more about the proposed strike:
- read this San Francisco Business Times piece

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