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SEIU Local 250 President Sal Rosselli pledged the power and resources of the 600,000 member SEIU in support of the nurses' struggle to maintain staffing ratios. After a somewhat acrimonious history, SEIU Local 250 and the CNA have become allies in their common goal of better patient care. Sal invited the R.N.'s to join SEIU in a march on Sutter General Hospital "the worst of the worst offenders of the staffing ratios!" SEIU union employees at thirteen Sutter hospitals in Northern California observed a one day strike on December 1 over contract bargaining issues. Sutter General in Sacramento is not a union hospital, but as the Sutter flagship, was designated to receive our visit. |
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The march to Sutter General from the State Capitol took us down "N" Street, past Sutter's Fort to the Sutter Hospital flagship at 28th and L, a distance of about a mile. Sutter General was the site of my first hospital job, about a hundred years ago in 1973 or thereabouts. At the time, the Sutter empire included only Sutter General and Sutter Memorial (on F Street). Sutter subsequently expanded both locally (obliterating a whole shopping center and some low-income housing) and statewide, but I don't hold myself accountable for any of it, since I left after six months to participate in an unrelated adventure. At any rate, it was interesting to make a return visit to Sutter General in this somewhat nonstandard manner. |
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| At Sutter Hospital's front doors R.N.'s and other health care providers expressing displeasure at Sutter's staffing policies and failure to bargain in good faith. |
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street at 28th and L was closed for the protest, with police cars
blocking traffic. City Councilmember Kevin McCarty, one of the event
speakers, informed us that the City Council had voted the night before
to rescind the unfortunate city statute banning protests of this sort.
We appreciate the Council's action! Sutter hospital is to the right of the protestors. |
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Patient care advocates prepare to march around Sutter Hospital. Earlier at the Capitol, several of the speakers described the results of understaffing, of how hard it is on nurses to leave work at the end of each day, knowing they could've done more for their patients but lacked the time to do it. The many legislators present praised nurses for the career path they'd chosen and for their dedication in arriving "by car, by bus, and by plane from all over the state to get here to improve the lives of your patients!" Many of the signs and speechs referred to "special interests," meaning, in this case, the hospital industry that opposes staffing ratios. Governor Schwarzenegger has often decried "special interests" as being contrary to the interests of California as a whole. The media often describe unions, consumer groups and other reformers as "special interests." "Special interests" are usuallly assumed to be "not you." In the particular case of staffing ratios, we are all in the affected interest group, as there are very few among us that will never be a patient or require healthcare. |