CA nurses prep for Thursday statewide strike

Nurses from Berkeley hospitals will participate Thursday in a massive strike along with thousands of nurses across the state. Nearly 23,000 nurses from the California Nurses Association — a sector of the nation's largest nurses' union, National Nurses United — are planning to walk off the job at Sutter Health affiliate hospitals and Kaiser Permanente hospitals across Central and Northern California, including two Alta Bates Summit Medical Center campuses in Berkeley, according to a press release from National Nurses United. The strike addresses what the national union calls "200 sweeping demands for concessions," and comes in the midst of contract negotiations between union nurses and Alta Bates administrators, according to Carolyn Kemp, director of public relations at Alta Bates. In a Monday press release from the national union, the union expressed concern over proposed cuts to workers' healthcare coverage and the elimination of paid sick leave, which it said could force sick nurses to work and put patients at risk.