More than 11,000 registered nurses at five University of California (UC) hospitals are voting this week on a tentative 26-month contract that, if approved, would provide for significant improvements for patients and nurses. The nurses, members of  the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), began voting yesterday on the pact at  UC hospitals at Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Davis (Sacramento) and Irvine, as well as student health centers at other UC campuses. The voting continues through Thursday.

After nearly a year without a contract and a temporary lockout two months ago, the 1,650 registered nurses at Washington Hospital Center ratified a contract in voting over the weekend.

In a letter to the New York Times today,  Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United (NNU), says the Republican plan put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is “little more than a thinly veiled scheme to destroy one of the most fundamental reforms in American history through privatization and further cost-shifting to many of the most vulnerable in our society.”

Nurses at Washington Hospital Center walked out this morning for a one-day strike to protest management’s refusal to address their concerns about safe patient care, management’s attempt to erode nursing standards, and management’s unfair labor practices.

This in from Organizing for America‘s Jessie Lidbury, live from Madison, Wis.:

“Protect our state!” came the cry from the Capitol streets. They were lined with workers, students and rights activists who hope that Gov. Walker and our state legislature will hear their voices above the noise of their own interests.

Registered nurses at Washington (D.C.) Hospital Center have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a one-day strike. No date has been set for a walkout at the hospital, which employs 1,650 RNs.

Thousands of registered nurses and nurse practitioners in Northern and Central California, members of  the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), voted nearly unanimously to approve a new three-year contract with Kaiser Permanente that gives them more freedom and authority to better care for their patients.