Nurses walk off jobs at Bay Area hospitals

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Thousands of registered nurses walked off their jobs at 7 a.m. today for the start of what is expected to be a two-day strike at 15 Northern California hospitals.

Union officials said as many as 5,000 nurses were expected to participate in the strike, which is directed at Bay Area hospitals affiliated with the Sutter Health network.

Nurses were picketing this morning at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley which, along with the Summit campus in Oakland, is the largest hospital involved in the strike.

About 30 nurses were outside the Summit campus this morning at a low-key event, said Jim Ryer, collective bargaining director for the Northern California chapter of the California Nurses Association.

"They're nurses and they are here to make their point about patient care and patient safety and staffing," he said. "Obviously it's peaceful."

Can you imagine if we ever get nationalized health care how many strikes we will get?