Bay Area Sutter nurses OK strike

California nurses at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center campuses in Berkeley and Oakland and at San Leandro Hospital have voted to give their union the authority to call a 10-day strike. The union says that the key issue in the strike is "Sutter's refusal to schedule RNs to care for patients when nurses are on legally mandated meal, rest, or bathroom breaks." Nurses at 11 Sutter hospitals held two-day walkouts in October and December 2007.