Tournament: McNeil | Round: 2 | Opponent: Lake Travis Story | Judge: Park, William
Health Care workers are simply too exhausted and they are willing to go on strike now.
Tahir, Colliver and Ollstein (Darius Tahir, Victoria Colliver and Alice Miranda Ollstein, Tahir is an eHealth reporter for POLITICO, Colliver is POLITICO Pro’s California-based health care reporter, Miranda Ollstein is a health care reporter for POLITICO Pro, “Walkouts and strikes hit hospitals in pandemic hot spots”, POLITICO, Oct 20th, 2021 https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/20/hospitals-labor-shortage-covid-delta-516303 --- C.H)
“The wear and tear on everyone got to the point where people became frustrated,” Pineda said. “People would take leaves of absence because their body is just burnt out.” Many staff members in Antioch — and across the country — say worker shortages mean it takes longer to admit people from the emergency room, and an increased risk of infections and accidents as fewer nurses care for more patients. In a statement, Sutter Health said labor issues were largely avoided across its system, but acknowledged “longstanding staffing issues.” The United Nurses of California/Union of Health Care Professionals last week voted to authorize its 21,000 members to strike at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California over what they say is low pay and benefits particularly for new employees Another 3,400 Kaiser workers in Oregon, members of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Healthcare Professionals, also voted to strike over similar concerns. Negotiations with management are ongoing. Whether it’s because of low staffing, inadequate pay or workplace conditions, health care employees, more than ever, are looking to wring concessions from management. “From our members, I’ve never heard the word ‘strike’ uttered so many times, whether they’re covered by a contract or not. Whether they’re in negotiations or not,” said Jamie Lucas, the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. “They’re fed up. The reasons have always been there, but there’s a new realization that they have the upper hand.”
During the COVID pandemic, some health care workers are already taking advantage of their having the upperhand in negotiations by striking. The risk is that these strikes will continue to increase unless something is done to prevent it.
Tahir, Colliver and Ollstein (Darius Tahir, Victoria Colliver and Alice Miranda Ollstein, Tahir is an eHealth reporter for POLITICO, Colliver is POLITICO Pro’s California-based health care reporter, Miranda Ollstein is a health care reporter for POLITICO Pro, “Walkouts and strikes hit hospitals in pandemic hot spots”, POLITICO, Oct 20th, 2021
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/20/hospitals-labor-shortage-covid-delta-516303
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There have been at least 30 strikes of health care workers so far this year, according to a tracker from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. More than a half million health care workers quit in August, the last month for which data is available. That’s the most in a single month in more than 20 years.