The bitter cold did not deter a group of more than 20 nurses from holding signs that read “Exhausted nurses = unsafe care,” “End mandatory overtime,” and “When nurses float, patient safety sinks,” at the corner of Palmer Avenue and Ter Heun Drive in an informational picketing on the morning of Thursday, December 11. Donning hats and mittens to guard against the off-and-on raindrops and snow flurries, the group waved and smiled to passersby at the intersection located steps away from their workplace, Falmouth Hospital.

With nurses at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital having authorized a strike earlier this week, the rhetoric between labor and management is flying. But management's arguments, regardless of how powerful they might be, are overshadowed by the resentment created by the $622,000 annual salary of Chief Executive Pete Delgado.