Up to 5,000 nurses will go on strike at 10 Bay Area hospitals on Tuesday in an ongoing dispute over wages, benefits and service cutbacks.
The affected hospitals will include the same East Bay Sutter Health facilities the nurses struck three weeks ago.
In addition, nurses will walk out at two San Jose facilities affiliated with Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) -- Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United has called a two-day strike beginning at 7 a.m. Tuesday at these Sutter hospitals: three Alta Bates Summit Medical Center facilities in Oakland and Berkeley, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, San Leandro Hospital, Sutter Delta in Antioch, Sutter Solano in Vallejo and Novato Community Hospital.
But because the hospitals typically hire replacement nurses on five-day contracts, the striking workers may be locked out until 7 a.m. Sunday at most facilities, said union spokesman Chuck Idelson. One exception will be Sutter Solano, which plans to let its striking workers return on Thanksgiving.
The one-day strike scheduled at Good Samaritan Hospital and Regional Medical Center in San Jose will be the first walkout in this round of contract talks with HCA, although the union has held informational pickets at these hospitals.
