4/9/2023 0 Comments Alta bates berkeley![]() Indeed, 8,000 Sutter nurses walked out in April on a one-day strike, including the nurses at Alta Bates. “The older nurses remember-we fought for that.” COORDINATION?ĬNA staff had argued that the 2020 contract extension was needed to line up Alta Bates’ expiration date with the expirations at other Sutter facilities in Northern California. “We went on strikes for a pension in the years past,” said Eric Koch, an ICU step-down unit nurse at Alta Bates and a member of the negotiating team. Conditions are so bad, she noted, that “nurses who we love and train… leave for Kaiser as soon as they can.” Urdal, a former CNA staffer, is disgusted that union staff would push a vote for a two-tier pension plan. Now they’ve been actively bargaining for 18 months. CNA staff agreed to a contract extension without notifying the bargaining team, she said. She said she was on the bargaining committee when the contract expired January 31, 2020. Thorild Urdal, a labor and delivery nurse with 40 years of experience at Alta Bates, says this isn’t the first nasty surprise. The timing may give them leverage, as hospital management will have to hire traveling nurses who may not want to work during the holidays, particularly while respiratory viruses are filling hospitals with patients. Members conducted short strikes in April and October, and voted in favor of a third strike, to start December 24 and run nine days. The raises in the offer, 22 to 25 percent over four years, would still leave most members earning several dollars less per hour than nurses at nearby Kaiser Permanente hospitals, making it hard to retain staff. Notably, while many nurses have been making gains at the bargaining table, the Alta Bates tentative agreement includes concessions, including the loss of the defined-benefit pension plan for new hires, who would be moved to a “cash balance design.” Vocal member leaders at the Oakland-area complex allege that California Nurses Association (CNA) staff are ignoring the objections of the negotiating team and pushing a bad agreement on the members. The problem? The negotiating committee of elected nurses is unanimous in its rejection of what Summit management says is its “last, best, and final” offer. Nurses at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center are set to vote on a tentative contract agreement on December 21, ahead of their Christmas Eve strike date. In a letter obtained by Labor Notes, the legal director of CNA offers a hearing for the Alta Bates negotiating team to bring evidence to the CNA Board of Directors for these claims.] Koch alleges that CNA has tried to frame efforts for transparency and nurse leadership as "anti-union" and "union-busting." The letter asks for action to be taken against staff reps who the letter alleges have been colluding with Sutter management and undermining not only Alta Bates nurses, but also the efforts of different Sutter hospital nurse negotiating committees to communicate and work together. Nurse leaders at Alta Bates, including negotiating team member Eric Koch, sent a letter to the California Nurses Association Board of Directors on January 2 outlining allegations against CNA staff. Managers have been encouraging nurses to accept the offer during charge nurse meetings on the hospital floor. They have not been contacted by management for a bargaining date since before management's "last, best and final offer" was voted down, December 21. [UPDATE, January 20, 2023: Alta Bates nurses returned to work on January 2 after striking for nine days over the Christmas and New Year holidays. ![]()
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