Kaiser Nurses Citing Ebola Safety Concerns Begin 2-Day Strike On Tuesday
OAKLAND (KCBS) — About 18,000 nurses who work for Northern California Kaiser Permanente hospitals, and other facilities, plan to go on a two-day strike Tuesday morning citing Ebola safety concerns and general patient care.
Zenei Cortez, the president of the California Nurses Association told KCBS that Kaiser is continuing to stonewall on dozens of proposals to improve patient-care standards.
"There over 2,000 skilled nursing positions within the Kaiser system and they have over 400,000 new patients that they have acquired through the Affordable Care Act," she said.
Cortez said nurses have been working without a contract since July and that Kaiser has not done a thorough job of training staff about the Ebola virus.
Kaiser, meanwhile, issued a statement stating that they have contingency plans and that hospitals, as well as clinics, will operate with normal business hours and services. Elective procedures and non-urgent appointments will be rescheduled.
Kaiser also disputes the claim that nurses aren't being trained to respond to Ebola.
Related Content: