Registered nurses from Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital began their day-long strike at 6 a.m. Aug. 24 with approximately 40 nurses and supporters on the picket line. By noon there were close to 100 marching protesters chanting various hospital board members’ names and slogan, “All nurses want is safe patient care” and “Nurses on the outside, trouble on the inside.”
At noon, Dr. Teresa Mack, labor representative for the California Nurses Association, led a rally and press conference. First, she introduced Daniel Dodge, former mayor of Watsonville, as a long-time political activist and representative of Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Salinas), and constant supporter of the nurses in Salinas and Watsonville.
“Solidarity forever,” he called out to the nurses facing him across the hospital driveway, adding that he was there on the behalf of Alejo, himself and other community members. “We’re here to support you today for all the work that you do to provide quality health care in this community.”
Dodge started to comment that people don’t realize the hours the nurses put in when he was drowned out by the horn from a passing fire engine and cheers from the nurses.
“This is not a fight about money,” he continued. “This is about health care, access, and taking care of those in need. We’re here to get your message across and get the community behind you.”
Dr. Carissa Purnell, professor of ethnic studies University of California Monterey Bay, said the nurses were courageous for taking a stand. She said she did not understand before coming that the nurses were working up to 20 hours a day without enough rest before their next shift, which could also be up to 20 hours.
“It’s that the administration understand that you’re not having enough time to rest and be around people that you love,” she said. “Whatever I can do in my capacity at the resource center, I’m here to advocate for you.”
Mack then introduced Doreen Martinez, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers as a veteran of many picket lines who has fought for workers’ rights. Martinez said she was proud that the nurses were “standing outside because what was going on inside is wrong.”
“I am glad that you’re not scared, because they want to scare you,” she said. “They don’t want you here. They want you to be intimidated. They want you to be scared so you’ll just be quiet and do your job. You’ve got to make sure you are treated with respect because your job is hard.”
Martinez told the nurses that it was illegal if it were true that they were getting as little as three hours sleep between shifts. She rhetorically asked the hospital, “Why are your nurses out here?” and promised to return if the nurses were to strike again.
Diane Soria said the contract negotiations in which she was involved in Salinas were never about money, but about safe patient care. She said the nurses need to make sure they can keep their patients safe.
“It’s one of our responsibilities as patient advocates,” she said. “It took 38 actions and over a year to get this administration to listen. And we still are in a fight with them. I’m confident that you can do it because we did it at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and Watsonville Community Hospital. Don’t get between nurses and their patients because that’s where the buck stops.”
While introducing the next nurse, Jennifer Holm, to speak, Mack said that when the county board of supervisors sold the hospital it was to Community Health Systems, which she described as “monsters.” She said since then that the nurses have had to strike more than any other nurses have in Northern California.
“They strike over and over again because that Goliath keeps attacking patient care standards,” she claimed and went on to describe the negotiating process in Watsonville, “After three years of an expired contract, and they fired our chief nurse rep, Tim Thomas, they did everything they could to our nurses, but they (nurses) never gave up, and we won last month.”
Holm said she believed the strike was a first for the Hazel Hawkins Hospital and asked how many of the nurses had ever been involved in a strike. There was no indication that any of the protesters had ever walked the picket line. She said she was scared during her first five strikes, not for herself, but her patients, as she was wondering what was happening inside the hospital while she was protesting outside.
“Sometimes there has to be a short-term impact for a long-term gain,” she said. “Nobody wants to be out here. Nobody got their RN license to be out here. They got their licenses to be in there.”
Holm related that during the Watsonville bargaining process, management was warned that the hospital would not be able to maintain and recruit nurses.
“We were told ‘the market can’t handle it,’” she said. “It’s not about the market. The people who come through these doors are your moms, your dads, grandma, grandpa, and your kids. It’s your family. It’s your community. Thank you for your advocacy, for staying here and doing this. You need to continue to demand safe staffing, a fair and equitable contract.”
Mack described Ida Erickson as a fiery nurse who has traveled to Cuba and the Sudan on dangerous missions who told Mack she wanted to do something to let the public know that Hazel Hawkins is a public sector hospital.
Erickson shouted out to the nurses, “Good afternoon, mighty nurses!” Then she said she has never been prouder of Hazel Hawkins’ nurses, and called out to them, “We are making history. We all stand united for what we believe in and that’s for patients’ rights.”
She said she was deeply saddened that the negotiations had come to a call to strike.
“The board and the management have chosen to make the nurses stand together to protest the cuts to patient and nursing care standards,” Erickson said. “We are here because we are patient advocates. We are the gatekeepers, meaning we give the optimum quality and the standard of care.”
Since the first time the nurses went public with their issues at the Hollister City Council meeting last April, the union and individual nurses have remained steadfast in their assertions that the negotiations were concerned with patient safety and not compensation. When negotiations came to an impasse, the union announced in a press release that there would be a one-day strike.
Hospital officials, however, continued to emphasize the nurses’ compensation, and also stated in a press release that, “The top priority for the Hospital continues to be the delivery of safe, quality care for our patients. The hospital is well prepared with a comprehensive strike plan, and we will not compromise the quality of our care. There will be no changes in the delivery of our services at any of our locations during the strike.”
As the strike continued outside the hospital on Wednesday, Aug. 24, Hazel Hawkins offered another press release to answer the nurses’ claims of short-staffing and long shifts without appropriate rest periods.
“We are disappointed the nurses chose to strike and believe the strike is not in anyone’s best interest – our patients, our staff, or our community,” said Gordon Machado, San Benito Health Care District board president. “This strike is not about quality or adequate staffing, but about issues having to deal with compensation. The hospital has never been cited for unsafe patient staffing issues, nor has any complaint investigated by State Licensing ever been validated, we have not made any proposals to reduce staffing as we strictly adhere to the State-mandated staffing ratios.”
According to the release, “No nurse is required to accept overtime and overtime or extra shifts are offered by seniority. Ninety percent of our nurses have no overtime.
“The proposals our negotiating team made to CNA regarding overtime pay and callback pay is well within industry standards and these pay practices are in place at neighboring hospitals. The hospital is offering a competitive package that is putting our nurses in the 90th percentile of average pay for nurses in Northern California. We have offered and welcome the opportunity for a “Fact-Finding” conference, but CNA has refused.
“Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital is committed to continuing a respectful and collaborative negotiating process in order to reach a prompt and fair resolution with our nurses, and also one that is fair to the community we serve.”
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