Nurses reach agreement with Stanford, ending weeklong strike
The union representing thousands of nurses has reached an agreement to return to work at Stanford Hospital and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, ending a weeklong strike that began after workers said they were overworked and burned out during the pandemic.
The union — the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA) — announced that the agreement, reached late Friday, would raise nurses’ salaries 7% this year, 5% in April 2023 and another 5% in April 2024, as well as boosting their health benefits. In a Sunday vote, 83% of CRONA, which has nearly 5,000 members, voted to approve the contracts that will cover nurses at both hospitals. The striking nurses are expected to return to work Tuesday. Contracted have been brought in by Stanford and treating patients since the full-time nurses went on strike.
The nurses had demanded higher wages and additional staffing to help them cope with a coronavirus pandemic that has forced many to work overtime and long hours.
“CRONA’S new contracts represent an enormous victory for nurses at Stanford and Packard, who have been fighting tirelessly for improved work and patient care conditions,” said Colleen Borges, president of CRONA and a pediatric oncology nurse at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. “We are glad the hospitals are finally acknowledging it now after a weeklong strike that demonstrated how difficult it is to get nurses with the skills and experience that Stanford and Packard nurses bring to their patient care.”
In a statement, Stanford Health Care said it is “pleased” that a three-year contract was ratified and “we truly look forward to welcoming our unionrepresented nurses back tomorrow.”
“After extensive discussions, we were able to reach a contract that reflects our shared priorities and enhances existing benefits supporting our nurses’ health, wellbeing, and ongoing professional development,” according to a Stanford spokesperson.
Stanford has been in negotiations with CRONA since labor contracts covering 5,000 nurses expired March 31. After negotiations stalled, 93% of eligible nurses voted April 8 to strike, marking the first for CRONA in more than 20 years.
In addition to wage increases, Stanford guaranteed an additional week of pre-scheduled vacation for all nurses starting in 2024 and protections against workplace violence, including a new response team at the children’s hospital. Incentive pay will be provided for high-acuity nurses in hard-to-staff areas, including emergency departments and those who care for the most severely ill patients.
Kimberley Reed, a cardiac ICU nurse, said on the picket line last week that nurses have left her department to work at other hospitals with better staffing levels. Short-staffing has also exacerbated burnout among nurses, she said, adding that some have worked 14 straight 12-hour shifts.
Stanford also agreed not to take back the no-cost medical plan for nurses and their families. In a controversial move, the hospitals sparked backlash after they said they would temporarily rescind the health benefits of the nurses who participated in the strike, saying they would only pay for striking staff health coverage through COBRA, a federal program that allows employees to temporarily extend their group health benefits usually at very high costs.
“It feels like a slap in the face,” Packard bedside nurse Jessica Butler, who is pregnant and in need of health care, said Friday about losing health benefits. “They say they value us but this is showing that that’s not true.”
Stanford nurses are joining a growing movement of other U.S. health care workers who have protested the shortfall of staffing and long, stressful hours during the pandemic.
Last month, 8,000 nurses at 18 Sutter Health facilities staged a one-day strike to call for better staffing after working under an expired contract for 10 months. Health care strikes have also taken place in New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alabama and Montana. Last November, Kaiser narrowly averted a strike of 50,000 health care workers.
“We’re grateful to have the support of our patients and our community, who understood that excellent patient care is inseparable from nurses’ working conditions and stood with us on the picket line,” said David Hernandez, an emergency room nurse at Stanford Hospital.