About 100 nurses picketed Tuesday morning outside Children's Hospital Oakland in the opening salvo of a strike planned to last three days and involve nearly 800 union members.
The hospital remained mostly operational, with 125 contract nurses brought in to work 12-hour shifts. A handful of elective surgeries were postponed, but otherwise patient services were at "near normal" levels, hospital Chief Nursing Officer Nancy Shibata said.
Hospital officials declined to say how much the strike accommodations would cost, but union officials estimated the figure to be $1 million, including pay, housing and meals for the temporary workers.