Healthcare workers are lamenting heavy workloads and limited staffing two years into the pandemic as hospital volumes pick back up. Unions in California have been especially active as more contracts expire and nurses and other staff get an opportunity to negotiate their working conditions.
About 5,000 nurses at two Stanford hospitals in Northern California started an open-ended strike April 25, but were back to work May 3 with new contracts with measures they say will better recruit and retain nursing staff — a key issue that led them to strike in the first place.
On the same day nurses returned to work, over 1,000 Stanford residents and fellow physicians won a union election for representation by the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR-SEIU).
Stanford staff haven’t been alone in California
Some 8,000 nurses at 15 Sutter facilities who waged a one-day strike on April 18 still haven’t reached a deal on new contracts with the system, according to the union representing them.
And on May 9 hundreds of certified nursing assistants, technicians, environmental service and food service workers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles began a five-day strike. They returned to work after the strike without reaching a deal on new contracts, according to a statement from the system.
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