The Region : Anesthetists Strike 8 Kaiser Hospitals

Nurse anesthetists employed at eight Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in Southern California went on strike over a non-economic issue involving a special room where they can shower and sleep. Janice Seib, a spokeswoman for Kaiser, said the strike had “minimal impact” on surgery because supervisors and anesthesiologists are filling in for nurses. Before contract talks ended, Seib said, members of the Kaiser Permanente Nurse Anesthetists Assn. had agreed to a 5% wage increase in each of the next two years of a new contract, but the “sticking point” was over the room. Gary Ellingsworth, representing the nurses, charged that management had bargained in “bad faith” by first agreeing to continuation of the nurses’ “call” room, then demanding a compromise on the issue. “Management welshed on a deal,” he said.