Redding nurses, health care workers to hold strike vote and picket for safe staffing

Shasta Regional Medical Center management has refused to address staff concerns about patient care, staffing

Registered nurses and caregivers at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, Calif., will hold a strike vote and picket on Thursday, June 11, to protest management's refusal to address patient care and safe staffing issues. Nurses and health care workers at Shasta Regional, a Prime Healthcare facility, are represented by California Nurses Association/Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union (CNA/CHEU), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), the country's largest nurses union.

Shasta Regional Medical Center (SRMC) nurses and caregivers began negotiating last summer for a new contract to improve patient care delivery and retain experienced staff. Frequently mentioned concerns include a lack of night shift pharmacy; inadequate staffing in the emergency department, behavioral health, and intensive care units; and consolidation or elimination of core services.

"We are fighting to protect our patients from corporate greed," said Michelle Gaffney, RN in the intensive care unit at Shasta Regional Medical Center. "Prime continues to acquire new hospitals while neglecting the ones they currently operate."

Shasta Regional management has failed to return to the table after CNA/CHEU's historic one-day strike on February 19 - when all represented staff went on strike for the first time to protest unsafe staffing.

Who: Registered nurses and caregivers at Shasta Regional Medical Center
What: Informational picket and strike vote for patient care and safe staffing
When: Thursday, June 11, picket 12-2 p.m., rally at 12 p.m.
Where: Shasta Regional Medical Center, 1100 Butte St., Redding, Calif.

"Our patients and community deserve better," said Matthew Young, nursing assistant in the Behavioral Health Unit. "When they seek treatment here, they should be met with adequate and competent staff."

The RNs and caregivers urge management to invest in staff and agree to a contract that provides incentives to recruit and retain competent staff, workplace violence and infectious disease protections, and upskilling and professional development.

NNOC represents 600 nurses and caregivers at Shasta Regional Medical Center. Nurses notified their employer on June 1 that they would hold an informational picket.

Prime operates more than 50 hospitals across 15 states, employing 60,000 health care workers. Nurses at Prime-owned Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago, Ill., who have recently filed to join NNOC, will hold a one-day strike on June 11 to protest the administration's illegal firings of six nurses in retaliation for union activity. Shasta Regional nurses and caregivers are holding a strike vote and informational picket in solidarity with Chicago nurses. Nurses at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nev., also owned by Prime, are also picketing on the same day.

Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union (CHEU) is an affiliate of California Nurses Association. CNA has more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California.