After a series of strikes during the past two years protesting sweeping reductions in patient care, nurses’ standards and workplace conditions that Sutter Health system demanded during contract talks at San Francisco Bay area hospitals, some 3,000 registered nurses have reached a tentative agreement that eliminates more than 200 concession demands.

Some 725 registered nurses at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., won representation from California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) last week after beating back what they say was a “furious anti-union campaign by hospital management and its high paid anti-union consultants.”

Today, some 4,500 RNs at eight Sutter Health hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area are holding a one-day strike to dramatize the highly profitable health care chain’s demand for more than 100 sweeping reductions in patient care, nurse standards and workplace conditions.

From Santa Rosa to Fresno and from Sacramento to San Jose, 23,000 registered nurses walked picket lines, joined rallies and sent a strong message yesterday to three large employers that they will not accept reductions in patient services or cuts to nurses and other caregivers. The one-day strike by members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) ended this morning at 7 a.m. PT.

More than 1,000 registered nurses attending the National Nurses United (NNU) convention rallied outside the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco yesterday. The action was part of NNU’s ongoing campaign for a tax on Wall Street’s financial speculation to provide revenue for Main Street reforms, including jobs at living wages, guaranteed health care for all and freedom from hunger, homelessness and retirement insecurity.

Another major study shows that California’s landmark nurse to-patient staffing ratio law improves the quality of patient care and enhances registered nurse staffing.

The latest study, by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Arizona State University, also refutes predictions promoted by healthcare industry opponents of the California law that hospitals might respond by disproportionately hiring lower-skill licensed vocational nurses.

More than five years ago the 500 registered nurses at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., began a drive to improve patient care and win fair treatment from hospital management by gaining a voice with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

The United Steelworkers (USW) at RG Steel ratified a new contract—and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

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.

How’s this for a demonstration of cause and effect?

Cause—Yesterday, some 200 activists, led by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) rallied outside Blue Shield’s San Francisco corporate headquarters to protest the health insurance giant’s premium hikes of as much as 59 percent for California consumers.