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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Nurses and health care workers at Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport and 14 Sutter Health facilities across California held a one-day strike on Monday after last-minute contract negotiations late last week broke down.
The California Nurses Association and Sutter Health are at loggerheads in ongoing contract negotiations in which the union says the company is refusing to enforce nursing ratios and is not prioritizing patient safety.
“We’re striking for patients’ safety. Sutter is short staffing the nurses,” said Yvette Neil, who has worked for Sutter Lakeside for 18 years and is the union steward.
Neil — who is part of the nurses union’s bargaining team — said nurses have been working on an expired contract since June 2019. Negotiations started in June but have not made much headway.
She said corporations like Sutter Health are cutting labor costs by short-staffing hospitals, which is leading to a great exodus of nurses while increasing medical errors and poor patient outcomes.
“We remain focused on reaching a shared resolution,” Sutter Health said in a Monday morning statement. “Just as Sutter’s commitment to safe, compassionate care remains unchanged, so does our goal of reaching an agreement that reflects the good and important work of our nurses and maintains our strength and stability as an organization. As we continue with negotiations, our patients will continue to receive uninterrupted, quality care.”
The striking nurses had only planned to be off work for one day for the strike but they were informed of a five-day lockout by Sutter Health officials.
Sutter Health, in turn, said “lockout” was the wrong term.
“When the union threatens a strike we must make plans that our patients, teams and communities can rely on,” the company said in a written statement provided to Lake County News on Monday afternoon. “Part of that planning is securing staff to replace nurses who have chosen to strike, and those replacement contracts provide the assurance of 5 days of guaranteed staffing amid the uncertainty of a widespread work stoppage. As always, our top priority remains safe, high-quality patient care and nurses may be reinstated sooner based on operational and patient care needs.”
Neil said on Monday the hospital notified the nurses union of the “replacement period” — the term being used rather than a lockout.
“It’s totally retaliatory,” said Neil, explaining that the hospital is refusing to let nurses use their paid leave time to cover them while they are not being allowed to return to work.
“We’re completely willing to go to work tomorrow and the whole week,” Neil said.
The last strike held at Sutter Lakeside was in September 2011.
Neil, who said no one ever wants to strike, described a workplace at Sutter Lakeside with poor morale, where numerous nurses — including many who have been at the hospital for more than a decade — have left, and everyone is working 12-hour shifts and picking up additional work.
Neil said the nurses are exhausted. “It’s been this way for a year and a half.”
She said Sutter Lakeside has been short-staffed since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
“There wasn’t very much COVID in our hospital,” said Neil, noting about half a dozen nurses came down with the virus. The Delta variant, in particular, caused a lot of illness.
Staffing wasn’t an issue due to COVID-19, said Neil. Rather, she attributes it to Sutter putting skeleton crews on duty throughout its facilities statewide.
The situation led the union to hold an informational picket in March, which resulted in a good turnout, Neil said.
However, with no progress made on the negotiations, the union held a March strike vote at the hospitals it represents. Neil said union members had to go to the hospitals to vote in person.
At Sutter Lakeside, 61 of the 100 nurses came to vote; the others couldn’t get away due to work. She said all of those who came voted in favor of a strike. Similarly high percentages favoring the strike were reported at the other hospitals.
Neil pointed out that Sutter said the nurses union canceled further negotiations, “and that’s not true.”
The union gave Sutter Health and the federal government the required 10-day notice of a strike. She said they had until Sunday night to come to the bargaining table.
On Friday, a federal moderator came in and Neil said Sutter was forced to come to the table. Negotiations began at 5 p.m. and went until nearly midnight.
While it was unlikely a contract could have been settled after just one day of negotiating, “They failed to show us that they were serious in negotiating,” Neil said.
She added, “So we went forward with the strike.”
The striking nurses were stationed at the entrance to Sutter Lakeside, on Hill Road East, to hold their one-day picket during what turned out to be a rainy Monday.
Music and regular honking on the busy road created a festive mood. Some of the striking workers brought family members, such as their children. They were dressed in bright red, holding signs and waving to passersby.
Lakeport Fire Chief Jeff Thomas drove into the hospital flashing his lights and greeted the nurses on his way out of the facility.
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