Nurses at 3 Santa Clara County hospitals on strike as negotiations continue
Nurses at all three of Santa Clara County hospitals went on strike Tuesday morning and plan to be on the picket lines until early Friday morning as they negotiate a new contract.
The three hospitals impacted are Valley Medical Center in San Jose, O'Connor Hospital also in San Jose and Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy.
It is the first time in the union's almost 50-year history that the nurses have gone on strike. Something they said is a sign of just how bad conditions have gotten.
Josh Mananghaya is one of about 3,750 nurses who are on strike. He works at Valley Medical Center as a progressive care unit nurse, which is a step down from the ICU.
"Valley is really focused on the community and that's what really resonated with me," said Mananghaya.
Josh started his career at Valley Med straight out of nursing school almost nine years ago and worked there through the pandemic. He said it took a toll on everyone.
"It's like a switch went off. Where it's like, 'OK, pandemic is done. Let's go back to how things were.' And it's like no. Things have changed," he said.
The Registered Nurses Professional Association represents the nurses at the Santa Clara County Hospitals and said their members are striking because of a lack of staffing and high patient-to-nurse ratios, as well as for pay raises, which they say will close the salary gap between county and private hospitals.
"We've made repeated efforts to get RNPA back to the table so we can reach a fair and sustainable contract," said James Williams, Santa Clara County's executive.
County leaders held a press conference earlier Tuesday addressing the strike, saying since 2020 nurses have gotten between a 30% and 42% pay increase.
"We are facing a $250 million structural deficit as a county organization. We need a contract that is fair and sustainable for our nurses, and for all of the other dedicated public employees who provide critical services that our county residents rely on," said Williams.
They also said they brought in almost 1,000 temporary nurses to keep all emergency services in the hospitals running, but many elective surgeries and non-emergency appointments were rescheduled.
"Despite the labor action, our hospitals and clinics remain open, and we are continuing to be able to provide all emergent and critical services to the community," said Dr. Jennifer Tong, the CEO of Santa Clara Valley Healthcare.
Nurses said they're also looking out for the best interest of the patients.
"This isn't just for show. This isn't just about, you know, getting raises or what not. It's also about when you come in as a patient, we want you to know that you're going to get the best care possible," said Josh.
The last contract negotiation between the nurses and the county was back in September of 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic.
Union leaders said they haven't ruled out another strike at the hospitals sometime in the future if they aren't able to reach an agreement with the county soon.
Valley Medical Center is one of only four Level 1 trauma centers in the Bay Area aside from San Francisco General, Stanford in Palo Alto and Highland Hospital in Oakland.