SAN FRANCISCO—A San Francisco Superior Court Judge banned as many as 11,000 University of California (UC) medical center nurses from participating in a one-day strike scheduled for Thursday.
The nurses, represented by the California Nurses Association, planned to join 12,000 Minnesota nurses in the one-day walkout, reports SFGate.com. However, UC officials requested an order to prevent the strike, maintaining that the walkout would pose a threat to public safety.
California nurses decided to strike after Minnesota nurses from 14 Twin Cities’ hospitals announced their strike date. Nurses from both states are represented by a larger union called National Nurses United, and say staffing issues – not wages – are the reason for the walkout.
As it stands, UC nurses have accused management of failing to uphold California’s nurse-to-patient staffing ratio law while nurses are on break or on meal times. Furthermore, the nurses claim the hospitals fail to properly regulate those ratios for severely ill patients. UC officials maintain they are complying with the law.
A hearing is scheduled for June 18 to determine if an injunction should be granted.
The order does not apply to nurses at the three non-UC hospitals who planned to participate in the strike; however, union reps said they would evaluate whether to continue with Thursday’s walkout.
Even without the California nurses participation, the walkout would be the largest registered nursing strike in U.S. history.
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