TAKING A STAND—Nurses and their supporters picket during an Aug. 6 protest at St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo. RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers
Registered nurses at Dignity Health put the hospital on notice Monday that they’ll go on strike next week unless an agreement is reached on a new contract.
If no deal is made by Aug. 30, 1,300 nurses represented by Pasadena-based Service Employees International Union Local 121RN will start a 10-day strike, the union announced.
The union said the nurses have been without a contract since June 30. Negotiations on a new contract have been going on since April, a union spokesperson said.
If it happens, the strike action will involve nurses at St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, Northridge Hospital Medical Center and St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, the union announced.
Megan Maloney, spokesperson for the San Francisco-based nonprofit Dignity Health, said the organization was disappointed by the union’s strike notice.
“We value all our employees and their daily contributions to our mission and to meeting the health needs of the communities we serve, and we would like to reach an agreement that is fair to them, to our patients and our organization,” Maloney said in an emailed statement.
Union spokesperson Hal Weiss said the nurses at the three facilities decided to issue the notice after taking a strike vote “that garnered overwhelming support at each facility.”
Two weeks ago, unionized nurses took to the picket lines in three days of job actions in which they marched in front of the hospitals demanding increased nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and an end to cutbacks they say are endangering patients.
“Dignity Health has refused to respond to important issues that affect patient care,” Weiss said in a news release. “Unsafe staffing . . . has been one of the nurses’ chief complaints.”
Maloney said Dignity Health has been bargaining in good faith.
“Throughout these negotiations we have shown respect for our employees, and we will continue to bargain in good faith,” her statement said.
“We have made fair and reasonable proposals that are reflective of our commitment to provide competitive wages and benefits for our employees,” Maloney said.