We are seeing more and more of this to where sides can’t sit down and negotiate. We had it at Kaiser in southern California a couple weeks ago. Most of the issues with the strikes are about working conditions and running short staffed. The article also said this strike involved some payment issues but again if it were just not enough nurses, $ 6 Million could pay a lot of salaries. We all know times are tough today and there’s give and take on both sides and we don’t even see that in Congress hardly and it’s more about getting one’s way sadly so much of the time. In working conditions, I don’t discount the nurses what so ever though as when they complain about having to care for too many patients and being stretched out, they are pretty much right on the money as that happens when efficiencies are analyzed and sometimes numbers are not in line with what real humans can do on a work shift. BD
Washington Hospital Center spent about $6 million to hire 600 temporary nurses, beef up security and cover other costs during last week’s nurses’ strike and subsequent lockout at the region’s largest hospital, hospital officials said. Union officials say more than 1,000 nurses took part in last week’s job action. The nurses walked off the job for a one-day strike but were locked out by the hospital from Saturday until Wednesday, when they started returning about 5 a.m., hospital spokeswoman So Young Pak said. It cost the hospital about $3.5 million to hire the temporary nurses and cover their transportation and lodging; an additional $1.5 million in salaries for the staff nurses who crossed the picket line on Friday; and $1 million more for increased security and other costs, Orlowski said. The hospital ran a media campaign with print and radio advertisements in which it promised to keep the facility fully staffed and operating as usual.