By Doug Cunningham

Patient care and nurse staffing levels are at the heart of the ten-day strike by 4,000 nurses against Sutter Hospitals in the San Francisco area. California Nurses Association RN Jan Rodolfo walked a Berkeley picket line on Monday.

[Rodolfo]: "From a patient’s perspective it’s about when you hit your call light, does a nurse come right away? If you’re in pain or short of breath, is a nurse able to get there right away to give you what you need? As nurses, it’s about whether or not we’re provided with adequate meal and break coverage. Right now the hospitals put a lot of pressure on us to walk away from our patients to take a break, without providing us someone who can take care of our patients in our absence. So we typically don’t get a break, even in a 12 hour shift, more than just tryin’ to gobble half a sandwich at the desk."

Rodolfo says Sutter is harshly anti-union and that hurts both patients and nurses.

[Rodolfo2]: "They are a very philosophically strongly anti-union coporation at Sutter Health; very aggressive at union-busting. And the level of intimidation within the facilities is really intense as well – very punitive – looking for reasons to discipline people, following people around with security when they walk through to talk to their co-workers."