Stanford nurses announce they will strike

A union representing nurses at Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital announced that it will begin a strike Monday, in advance of a formal bargaining session on Tuesday with hospital representatives.

According to a statement Sunday evening, about 93 percent of eligible nurses authorized the strike, which the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA) will use to set up a picket line and hold a 9 a.m. Monday press conference outside Stanford Hospital along Welch Road at Pasteur Drive.

“As one of the nation’s top healthcare systems, Stanford and Packard have an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and work with nurses to solve the burnout and exhaustion that is driving many of us to reconsider our jobs and our profession,” CRONA president Colleen Borges said in part Sunday, pointing to ongoing discontents.

“We’ve been disappointed by hospital administrators’ consistent refusal to acknowledge the reality of understaffing: constant requests for overtime, little time for rest with our families and insufficient support for our mental health,” added Borges, who works as a Packard pediatric oncology nurse.

“A strike has always been the last resort for CRONA nurses, but we are prepared to stand strong and make sacrifices today for the transformative changes that the nursing profession needs. We hope to get back to work quickly under fair contracts that acknowledge nurses’ contributions and support excellent patient care.”

After contracts covering the nurses expired March 31, CRONA gave notice of intention to strike April 13; although it offered no end date for the strike Sunday, it repeated its intention of continuing contract negotiations Tuesday with hospital management.

Nurses say profits have spiked at Stanford and other large health systems, even during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to the university’s 2021 annual report, revenues at the two hospitals exceeded expenses by $845 million, compared with $107 million in 2020 — although some of that was due to one-time federal relief grants.

In an e-mail Sunday evening, hospital representatives updated a Friday statement, lamenting word of the strike, calling it “a serious event that is disruptive to our patients, families, and colleagues” and saying that they planned to continue working toward a contract, but would only pay for striking staff health coverage through COBRA: “Our hospitals’ employer-paid premiums for health benefits are only provided to employees who are actively engaged in working for the hospitals. This standard practice is not unique to our hospitals and applies to any of our employees who are not working, are on unpaid status, and are not on an approved leave.”

“We have worked diligently to reach a mutually acceptable contract agreement and have made meaningful progress at the bargaining table so far,” Stanford Health Care chief nurse executive and vice president of patient care services Dale Beatty and Stanford Children’s Health senior vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer Jesus Cepero said in part.

“We’ve offered an enriched comprehensive proposal that features only enhancements for our nurses, including wage increases that will keep our nurses among the highest paid nurses in the nation, greater retention bonuses in the first year, funds to help repay loans incurred while seeking a nursing degree, increased access to paid time off for new nurses, and a new program for retention-incentive payments for our nurses working in units with higher vacancy rates and hard-to-fill positions.”

Beatty and Cepero also said that both hospitals will stay open, with replacement nurses filling in for striking staff and a reduced service volume and re-scheduling of elective procedures as necessary.

Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.