Tom Dalzell: CNA Nurses Deserve Our Support

From health care to energy to government, we tend to think about our world in terms of "systems." I know I do it -- consider the health care "system," the political "system" the legal "system."

At least that was my perspective until a few weeks ago when my body's systems began to shut down as the result of a freak infection that sent me into toxic shock. But lying in a critical care unit watching a nurse inject medicine into your arm helps you see the world in slightly different terms. It wasn't a system that saved my life -- it was a group of highly trained, very motivated and caring people.

The quality of the systems we rely on depends entirely on the people who make them up. Which is why the California Nurses Association, whose members cared for me when my life was on the line, deserve our support as they strike against their employer, Sutter Health. For the nurses who treated me at Alta Bates, a Sutter hospital in Berkeley, this strike is less about what they stand to lose -- such as their own health care benefits -- and more about the compromises in safety and patient care they are being asked to make.

Despite earning over $3.7 billion in profits since 2005, Sutter has asked for nearly 200 concessions from its workers. When management demands nurses come to work even when they are sick and risk infecting patients, they are putting a life on the line to boost the bottom line. Same goes for management's resistance to provide sufficient staffing levels so that RNs can take breaks and avoid putting patients in jeopardy by working when they're exhausted.

Having spent much of the last year in health care negotiations impacting tens of thousands of workers, I know how incredibly personal and important this issue is. And I've been lucky to work with employers who understand that we are all in this together. IBEW Local 1245's workers haven't had to strike in decades -- but we recognize what's worth fighting for and support CNA.

CNA's decision to bargain and strike together is a powerful thing. Over the years their union has negotiated for lower nurse-to-patient ratios, better training, wages that can support a family and higher standards of patient care. Having trained, capable nurses ready to help makes a difference for every member of our health care system -- and for me it made a life-saving one.

That's why, if I were able to walk today, I'd be out on the picket line with nurses who saved my life.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-dalzell/california-nurses-strike_b_1163410.html

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