UPDATED: Long Beach Nurses Strike

Some 2,000 registered nurses at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and the affiliated Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach went on strike for 24 hours beginning this morning, but the targeted hospital system said it had hired replacements and would keep the strikers locked out until next week.

The walkout by the nurses, who are represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, began at 7 a.m. today, according to the union. Over recent days, some 1,500 signs were prepared for the occasion.

MemorialCare Health System executives said they have contracted with replacement nurses for five full days rather than just the 24 hours of the scheduled walkout and vowed that the pre-Christmas job action would have no impact on patient care. The striking nurses will not be allowed to return to work before Tuesday, they said.

"It's unfortunate that during the holidays our work family is fracturing in this way,'' said Dr. Susan Melvin, associate chief medical officer for Long Beach Memorial. "But it absolutely will not impact hospital services. We will be fully open and operational -- with the same high quality of care we've had for the last 100 years.''

The union says that some of its members -- part of a special Patient Safety Task Force -- will cross picket lines if replacement nurses run into problems they can't surmount. The task force includes three nurses from each of several hospital units.

The strike will have an impact on parking. MemorialCare said on the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center website that it will have a valet service operating for patients and their families at the hospital campus. It said the parking lot on Atlantic Avenue adjacent the parking garage will be reserved for patients and visitors during the strike while the garage will be used only by employees.

The strikers, who have been working without a contract since September, will receive no wages for their time away from work during the lockout, said union spokeswoman Cynthia Hanna.

A sticking point in negotiations has been what the union says are major increases in nurses' out-of-pocket costs for health coverage -- even though the hospitals' coverage costs have not risen.

The Long Beach nurses also insist that there be safe nurse-to-patient staffing at all times and accuse MemorialCare of refusing to implement safe patient lift policies consistent with state law to prevent injuries to patients and nurses.

Nurse Margie Keenan, a member of the bargaining unit, said the hospital is only interested in "the bottom line -- this undermines our ability to deliver safe patient care.''

"We are nonprofit,'' Melvin countered. "So, all the money we generate goes back into the community.''

Also striking today will be some 4,000 registered nurses who work at nine Sutter Corp. medical facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area. They are also represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.

--with reports from City News Service