Registered nurses who work for San Joaquin County’s health system began a 24-hour strike Friday to protest what they consider to be unfair labor practices.
The work stoppage involving nurses represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United started at 7 a.m.
Carrying signs that said “Respect nurses” and “RNs on strike,” about 400 nurses — many dressed in their union color of red — formed a picket line in front of the main entrance to the county’s largest health facility, San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp.
The primary focus of the strike is a wage increase enacted by county officials that excluded many nurses. CNA says the salary adjustment was done without going through the bargaining process.
“We feel like the county is undermining our contract negotiations,” said Kelly Mertz, a registered nurse in the trauma unit who’s worked for 21 years at General Hospital. “That’s why we are here today, to let them know they cannot divide us and we’re going to stand up for ourselves.”
The union represents more than 1,000 registered nurses who work for the county. They include not only the nurses at General Hospital, but public health and county jail nurses as well.
Mario Enríquez, who represents District 4 on Stockton’s City Council, was among those supporting the strikers Friday.
“I’m the son of a former caregiver, so I wanted to make sure I was out here in solidarity in support of our nurses,” Enríquez said. “The sooner (the contract is settled), the better. Our nurses are in a tough industry, and they work really hard. So the faster we can get to an agreement for our nurses, the better it is for our community.”
Tracy City Councilmember Dotty Nygard said that as a retired nurse and former CNA representative, “I will always stand with nurses.”
“They need to gain more collective power for management to do the right thing,” Nygard said. “Nurses are always on the front lines providing the best care they can.”
San Joaquin County officials said they met with the CNA on Thursday, and the two sides agreed to eight additional tentative agreements, three of which included economic enhancements, according to a news release.
The two sides, however, have still not agreed on 20 of CNA’s proposals. The county revised what it described as its “Last Best and Final Offer,” which included an increase to base wages and an overall economic package of $54.4 million. CNA’s chief negotiator, Matthew Schaeffer, refused to take the offer to membership for a vote, the county said in its release. Schaeffer said the union does not take proposals to their members when they haven’t been tentatively agreed to or recommended.
“It is unconscionable that the county would undermine contract negotiations and make unilateral changes outside the bargaining process. This is why we are striking,” Stacey Lo, a registered nurse in the labor and delivery/post-partum unit at General Hospital, said in a statement.
The average experienced inpatient nurse at the county hospital earns $163,105 a year, not including overtime pay, the county says.
It’s hard to gauge how much the strike may interrupt the county’s medical services. CNA says it gave the county notice of the strike on Jan. 7, which gave administrators time to reschedule patients and elective surgery.
On Friday, San Joaquin General Hospital CEO Richard Castro assured the community that all services would remain operational during the strike.
“Patient safety and outcomes remain our top priority, and we have adequately planned our staffing needs to provide uninterrupted, exceptional health care,” he said in a statement provided to Stocktonia.
Negotiations between the county and the union began last March. The nurses’ contract expired April 30. To try to get a resolution, nurse representatives appeared before the county Board of Supervisors in November and staged an informational picket.
“What we’re hoping to achieve is for the county to stop their unfair labor practices and to meet us at the table in good faith bargaining,” Mertz said.
Stocktonia editor Scott Linesburgh contributed to this report.
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