Peace and Freedom Party Supports Striking Nurses

December 23, 2004 - Nurses at Fresno's University Medical Center struck today in a one-day action to protest the failure of Community Hospitals to engage in any meaningful contract negotiations.

Braving near-freezing temperatures, UMC nurses, friends and supporters gathered outside the hospital at 7:00 a.m. to begin walking a picket line that drew the attention of local media and the public to the irrational and morally-bankrupt practices of Community Hospitals/UMC management.

Using a nurse-patient ration that jeopardizes patients' health and safety is just one of the practices that are at issue in this struggle. Wages, retirement and a just contract are others.

Though the California Nurses Association continues to negotiate in good faith, hospital management has not. Using scab nurses paid at triple the rate of Union nurses and at a staffing level below even the levels of the currently inadequate standards at issue is showing management's contempt for the entire community - the public it claims to serve.

Yet in spite of the self-serving actions of UMC management, there is a growing unity of groups dedicated to supporting our nurses. Among those showing solidarity today on the picket line were the Fresno Firefighters' Association and the Fresno County Peace and Freedom Party.