SAN FRANCISCO—Registered nurses who are members of the California Nurses Association will vote in April on a new 34-month proposed contract with California Pacific Medical Center that includes a 6 percent wage increase and guaranteed meal and rest breaks, the union announced March 27. —BNA, 03/29/13 More »
The federal healthcare law will help cause insurance premiums to rise 30% on average for many middle-income Californians next year, but lower-income consumers could save up to 84%, a new government report says. —LAtimes.com, 03/28/13 More »
It's no coincidence that the California Nurses Association has been the most active and effective union in fighting for a broad social and economic justice agenda, one that seeks to give greater value to caring and caregiving. Unlike many unions that fight mostly for their members' interests, CNA is an extension of the nursing ethos itself. —San Francisco Bay Guardian, 03/27/13 More »
Until 1969, the federal government required not-for-profit hospitals to meet the 5 percent standard. However, after Medicare and Medicaid were enacted in 1965, hospitals argued that the need for charity care would decline so that hospitals could not meet the IRS standard and that they should be awarded more flexibility. The IRS dropped the 5 percent rule but established a “community benefit standard.” —MyDesert.com, 03/22/13 More »
RANCHO MIRAGE — A new bill under consideration in Sacramento would require not-for-profit hospitals such as Eisenhower Medical Center to raise charity spending to 5 percent of their net revenue. —Palm Springs Desert Sun, 03/18/13 More »
APPLE VALLEY-Nurses held a candlelight vigil Wednesday night at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, calling for improved nurse staffing throughout the St. Joseph Health System. —Daily Press, 03/15/13 More »
Saying that housing is a basic human right, about 75 protesters gathered in downtown Oakland Wednesday as part of the new Homes for All campaign. The grassroots movement, launched with similar events in 11 cities nationwide, asks President Obama and other elected leaders to develop a plan to expand and protect affordable housing. —SF Chronicle, 03/14/13 More »
If there’s any label that has lost all meaning it must be “non-profit” hospital. Long gone are the days when hospitals were small institutions, focused on patient care, and run by local boards accountable to their local communities. Today, most “non-profit” hospitals are part of mega corporate chains, operated in secret by corporate executives whose dedication to the bottom line far exceeds their dwindling interest in community service. —Capitol Weekly, 03/12/13 More »
When the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled Friday to overturn President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, it handed a huge gift to Wall Street, big corporations and the politicians they control. —San Francisco Chronicle, 01/28/13 More »
Business reporter Alana Semuels talks with nurses union organizer David Johnson and UC Berkeley Prof. Harley Shaiken about why labor unions are growing in California but not the nation. —Los Angeles Times, 01/24/13 More »
Columnist Colleen O'Connor explains why Rose Ann DeMoro, the director of the nurses union, is more powerful than any woman in California but the governor's wife. A month into the new year and it is obvious who the 2013 Person of the Year in California will be: Rose Ann DeMoro. —PowayPatch.com, 01/16/13 More »
In a California Healthline Special Report by Kenny Goldberg, experts discussed whether hospital workers should be required to obtain vaccines for influenza. Hear what Zenei Cortez, co-president of the California Nurses Association has to say in this audio interview. —California Healthline, 01/14/13 More »
Nurses at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Rafael, and 20 other Kaiser hospitals from Santa Rosa to Fresno, picketed Wednesday to protest what they say is "persistently inadequate nurse staffing." The action mounted by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United comes as Kaiser is attempting to cut its nurse staffing. —Marin Independent Journal, 12/20/12 More »
St. Johns Health Center registered nurses on Friday and Saturday ratified their first ever collective bargaining agreement in a secret ballot, according to the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. —Santa Monica Mirror, 10/31/12 More »
Mention nurses in the Bay Area these days and two images come to mind: a caring, nurturing professional at a patient's bedside, and a perturbed, bullhorn carrying protester walking a picket line. By one estimate, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United has called more than 70 strikes at the state's hospitals in the past two years. Its members will walk off the job again Thursday, waging a one-day strike against seven East Bay hospitals affiliated with Sutter Health as part of an 18-month-long attempt to negotiate a new contract. —Silicon Valley Mercury News, 10/31/12 More »
As a Bakersfield nurse who has dedicated the past 29 years to serving my community, I am deeply alarmed at the danger posed to my patients, my neighbors and my family by Proposition 32. Sponsors of Prop. 32 hope the misleading ads that fill our screens daily will persuade you this measure will restrict corporations and unions from influencing elections. Nothing could be further from the truth. —The Bakersfield Californian, 10/25/12 More »
There is a hidden risk buried inside Proposition 30 that goes far beyond cuts to education, according to Hope Richardson, policy analyst for the California Budget Project. If the initiative doesn't pass on Nov. 6, she said, it's true that a series of cuts go into effect that would take billions of dollars out of education funding in California. "Most of the trigger cuts are to education," Richardson said. —California Healthline, 10/04/12 More »
SACRAMENTO -- The Yes on Proposition 39 campaign announced today that the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA) has endorsed Proposition 39, the November ballot measure that will close an unfair corporate tax loophole that has been costing California $1 billion annually. —Yes on Prop 39, 10/04/12 More »
As mandated by State law, the California Department of Health Services requires acute care hospitals to maintain minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. Required ratios vary by unit, ranging from 1:1 in operating rooms to 1:6 on psychiatric units. The legislation also requires that hospitals maintain a patient acuity classification system to guide additional staffing when necessary, assign certain nursing functions only to licensed registered nurses, determine the competency of and provide appropriate orientation to nurses before assigning them to patient care, and keep records of staffing levels. —Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 10/03/12 More »
The Inclusive Prosperity Act, or H.R. 6411, would establish a 0.5 percent tax on the trading of stocks, 50 cents on every $100 of trades and lesser rates on bonds, derivatives and currencies. It's being touted as the "Robin Hood tax" because it would generate an estimated $350 billion dollars annually that would go towards growing local economies, taking from the rich to help the poor. —San Francisco Bay Guardian , 10/03/12 More »
