Nurses at Long Beach Medical Center, Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital, and Alhambra Hospital Medical Center to strike for patient safety and fair contracts

Registered nurses at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., and Alhambra Hospital Medical Center in Alhambra, Calif., will strike on Thursday, May 22 to protest issues impacting patient care and safe staffing, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

California Nurses Association represents nearly 200 nurses at Alhambra Medical Center and nearly 2,200 nurses at Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital. The latter is the largest private sector bargaining unit in Southern California. Long Beach and Alhambra nurses, who are in contract negotiations, gave their respective hospital administrators notice to allow for alternative plans for patient care. 

What: Nurses on strike at Long Beach Medical Center, Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital, and Alhambra Hospital Medical Center nurses
When: Thursday, May 22, 7 a.m. to Friday, May 23, 6:59 a.m.
Media Availability & Interviews:
Long Beach Medical Center (2801 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, CA)
-Walkout and picket at 7 a.m. 
-Rally at 12 p.m.
Alhambra Medical Center (100 S. Raymond Ave, Alhambra, CA)
-Walkout and picket at 7 a.m.
-Rally at 12 p.m. 

Long Beach RNs strike for safe staffing, workplace violence protections

Long Beach Medical Center (LBMC) nurses say long ER wait times, workplace violence incidents, and staffing issues remain prevalent and unresolved. However, instead of bargaining in good faith to address nurses’ concerns, LBMC announced cuts in services and layoffs before cancelling negotiations scheduled for May 9 with CNA.

“We are striking to stand up for ourselves and our patients who deserve safe staffing,” said Brandy Welch, RN at Long Beach Medical Center. “In the emergency department, nurses don’t have time to take meal or rest breaks because we are so busy. Patients are sicker and that means they need more care. When we have a lot of very ill patients, we should be assigned fewer patients, but that is not happening.”

“We want nurses to be assigned only to work in units where they have experience and expertise,” said Stephanie Jobe, RN at Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital. “Instead, some nurses are being floated to work in areas outside of their home unit, putting their license and patients at risk. We also want workplace violence protections so patients and staff will be safe. This is why we are striking.”

Alhambra RNs strike for resource nurses and contract accountability

Resource nurses are tasked with providing support and assistance to other nurses on a unit, with tasks like patient care and admissions, discharges, and training. Because they are not assigned patients during the shift, resource nurses would be able to fill in gaps created by Alhambra’s skeletal staffing system.

“A staffing plan without resource nurses means that units are short-staffed before we even walk into our shifts,” said Farah Gerami, RN in the education department. “It’s an inappropriate standard of care and leaves nurses exhausted and unable to provide the care we believe our patients deserve. We are striking to ensure there is a resource nurse scheduled for our shifts, so that we can take a break to eat, use the bathroom, and have a breather.”

Alhambra nurses are also striking over the hospital’s refusal to allow union representatives to access the hospital floors. In order to enforce the conditions agreed upon in their contracts, including conditions that determine patient safety conditions, nurses benefit from the presence of the labor representative.   

“If they’ve agreed to the conditions in our collective bargaining agreement, what are they hiding by refusing our representatives access?” asked Jacky Reyna, RN in the medical-surgical unit. “This is a commonsense and standard agreement between all hospital employers and health care unions and Alhambra Medical Center’s CEO doesn’t get to be the exception.”

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.