Welcome to the
CRONA 2025 Negotiations
Information Page
“DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH, UNITY IS OUR POWER”
NEGOTIATIONS Updates
Bargaining for Our New Contracts is Underway! 💙💪 January 15, 2025
Dear CRONA Nurses,
Your CRONA Negotiating Team has been hard at work. Today, CRONA presented a package of opening non-economic proposals to Stanford and Stanford Children’s management.
CRONA’s proposals reflect the priorities of Nurses – raised in your responses to the negotiations survey, in our Wednesday Webinars, and in conversation with each other.
CRONA is working to:
- Ensure safe patient staffing throughout the hospital.
- Make nursing a sustainable profession, including by addressing scheduling, conditions for Nurses on-call, part-time positions, and more.
- Keep Nurses safe in the workplace.
- Address emerging technologies like AI that can affect nursing practice.
- Hold the hospitals accountable and make sure existing protections and benefits are secure.
CRONA presented detailed proposals on all of these items, as well as on the Professional Nurse Development Program (PNDP).
The hospitals had only a few opening non-economic proposals, primarily focused on existing notification procedures.
What happens next? Beginning Tuesday, January 28, we will be meeting with the hospitals three days a week until the contracts expire at the end of March. When we next meet, CRONA expects the hospitals to respond to CRONA’s opening proposals.
Join CRONA Nurses at our Negotiations Kickoff Event!
What better way to have an opportunity to join with nurses from our diverse nursing practice areas than to have a celebration!? Join your fellow CRONA Nurses for an evening of fun, food, and camaraderie for nurses. We’ll have complementary food and coffee/soft drinks, with wine/beer/signature drinks available for purchase. We also have new CRONA swag items plus our special merch store on site. Best of all, there will be lots of CRONA Nurses – including our 2025 Negotiation Team!
We ask that you RSVP if you plan to attend so we may plan for food – we want to make sure everyone has enough to eat! Get your CRONA Nurse friends and coworkers together and come to the party as a group!
Post our Kickoff Event flyer to your unit’s CRONA board by downloading and printing it! See below for an image of the flyer and link to a printable PDF.
This event is an in-person event for CRONA Nurses only. You are invited to enjoy complementary food at the restaurant however to-go boxes will not be available.
CRONA Scholarship
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2024 CRONA Scholarship! CRONA continues to strive to support nurses in their work and the development of the nursing profession. Each year CRONA awards educational scholarships of $1000 each to help defray the cost of continuing studies in nursing or a related field at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorate level.
The 2025 scholarship application period will be announced in December. Many nurses applied for the scholarship. It is wonderful to know that so many nurses are working to further their education.
First day of Negotiations 💙💪 January 14, 2025
Dear CRONA Nurses,
All CRONA Nurses, together in unity, are the heart of our union. Our contracts provide structure that supports us in our work and shapes our lives. Now, we begin negotiating the agreements that will carry us forward to our future. Our current contracts expire on March 31, 2025, and the Negotiation Team is hard at work.
The theme of our 2025 negotiations is “Diversity is our strength, Unity is our power”. Nurses are diverse in our areas of practice, and in our personal and professional backgrounds. As a labor union, our diverse voices are united and strong, giving us power to speak loud enough to be heard and respected. It is the power we have when we unite, that as individuals we do not have alone. That strength and powerful voice help us come together in support of each other and our profession, with the shared goal of making nursing a sustainable profession that is the heart of patient care.
Expect to receive more frequent updates as we move forward into negotiations. We will introduce our Negotiation Team – made up of CRONA Nurses who work in areas throughout both hospitals and who have stepped up to represent all of us at the bargaining table. We will share updates regarding our proposals after we present them to the hospitals at the bargaining table. We will ask for your engagement and support. We will ask you to share your stories. We will have events where you can gather and enjoy the company of your fellow CRONA Nurses as we all work together.
In Unity,
Colleen Borges
President, CRONA
Join CRONA Nurses at our Negotiations Kickoff Event!
What better way to have an opportunity to join with nurses from our diverse nursing practice areas than to have a celebration!? Join your fellow CRONA Nurses for an evening of fun, food, and camaraderie for nurses. We’ll have complementary food and coffee/soft drinks, with wine/beer/signature drinks available for purchase. We also have new CRONA swag items plus our special merch store on site. Best of all, there will be lots of CRONA Nurses – including our 2025 Negotiation Team!
We ask that you RSVP if you plan to attend so we may plan for food – we want to make sure everyone has enough to eat! Get your CRONA Nurse friends and coworkers together and come to the party as a group!
Sunday, January 26, 2025
5:00 – 9:00 PM
Domenico Winery + Osteria
1697 Industrial Blvd, San Carlos, CA
Post our Kickoff Event flyer to your unit’s CRONA board by downloading and printing it! See the bottom of this newsletter for an image of the flyer and link to a printable PDF.
This event is an in-person event for CRONA Nurses only. You are invited to enjoy complementary food at the restaurant however to-go boxes will not be available.
CRONA and AFL-CIO Labor Councils
Today marks a historic step in the growth of CRONA Nurses. In the culmination of a process in the works for many months, CRONA is now affiliated with the South Bay Labor Council and San Mateo County Labor Council. Our first delegates were sworn in last night!
Labor councils are a confederation of many unions representing workers from multiple disciplines across the Bay Area. By participating with these councils, we demonstrate a collective commitment to our shared values and objectives, strengthening our bargaining position moving into this next round of negotiations. CRONA is looking for members who wish to serve as delegates for each of these labor councils. Meeting dates/times are listed below– If you want to join, please fill out a consent to serve form at CRONA.org. For any questions, please reach out to CRONA Legislative Representative, Meredith Holder—MHolder@crona.org
San Mateo Labor Council
1701 Leslie Street
San Mateo, CA
Meetings are at 6 p.m. on the 2nd Monday of every month
South Bay Labor Council
2302 Zanker Road
San Jose, CA
Meetings are at 6 p.m. on the 3rd Monday of every month (unless there is a holiday)
WHO WE ARE
CRONA’s 2025 Negotiations Team
Brittaney West, RN
SHC, ICU M4 Medical
Nursing Experience: Originally from Buffalo, NY (Go Bills), Brittaney has 11 years of nursing experience, starting with Stanford in 2018. She worked in the PACU at Stanford and moved to M4 ICU, then the COVID ICU, in the early months of COVID. The 2022 contract negotiations ignited her passion for labor union activism and she took on her current role as a CRONA Associate Nurse Advocate in fall 2022.
Fred Taleghani, RN
LPCH, Medical Transport Critical Care
Nursing Experience: 28 years in nursing, including 22 years at LPCH. Experience in pediatric ICU, neonatal ICU, and CVICU critical care transport.
Kathy Stormberg, RN
SHC, Imaging Services
CRONA Vice President
Nursing Experience: 27 years in nursing, including 21 years at SHC in medical/surgical/neuro ICU, PACU and SAU (Surgery Admission Unit), and outpatient radiology nursing. Other nursing experience includes United States Army Nurse Corps; inpatient med/surg/ortho, PACU, inpatient float pool, labor & delivery, unit manager.
Brittany Stombaugh, RN
SHC, 500P Pre and Post Anesthesia Care Unit
Nursing Experience: Brittany started as a new grad in the Emergency Department 10 years ago, and has been with Stanford for 3 years, working in the 500P Pre-Post/PACU.
Kasia Smusz, RN
SHC, ICU J2 Cardiothoracic Surgery
Nursing Experience: Kasia’s background is geographically diverse – from Canada to the East Coast and now at Stanford for almost 6 years. Her experience spans both bedside nursing in Acuity Adaptable Unit (AAU) and now in the Cardiovascular ICU, providing me with a unique perspective on the challenges of both floor and ICU nursing.
She knows that as nurses, we often prioritize the needs of others above our own. Negotiations are an opportunity to advocate for ourselves and ensure we have the resources, support, and compensation we deserve. It’s a chance to prioritize our well-being and ensure we can continue to provide the highest quality of care to our patients.
Kasia feels deeply honored and humbled to represent over 6000 nurses on the CRONA Negotiation Team.
Stacy Rusterholtz, RN
LPCH Bass Center Float Pool
Nursing Experience:
Eileen Pachkofsky, RN
LPCH, Bass Center
CRONA Vice President
Nursing Experience: Eileen started her nursing career 19 years ago as a new grad at Stanford Children’s. She currently works on the hematology, oncology, and stem cell transplant unit. She has served three terms as CRONA VP for Stanford Children’s, and this is her third negotiations. She is a strong advocate and passionately fights for a fair contract. She is honored to represent her fellow nurses and excited to be a part of this team.
John McGowan, RN
LPCH, Pediatric ICU
Nursing Experience: John started his nursing career 12 years ago on a general telemetry floor. One year later he moved to adult ICU and worked in adult critical care for the next several years, including 4 years as a travel nurse. He moved to Pediatric ICU 6 years ago when he started at Stanford Children’s. He is passionate about fighting to better the profession of nursing for years to come.
Amy Krehbiel, RN
LPCH, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Nursing Experience: Amy is a Stanford Children’s NICU nurse of 25 years. She served on many of the past negotiation teams since 2010 and honored to once again represent all CRONA nurses for these contract negotiations.
Ash Goodson, RN
SHC, Adult Emergency Services
Nursing Experience: Ash has been an Adult ED nurse at Stanford for 11 years, serving as CRONA Area Representative for the past 6 year, and represented CRONA on the Workplace Violence Committee for the last 2 years. He is a Clinical Nurse IV and works closely with his unit’s Education Department to train and mentor new Trauma Nurses, in addition to instructing TNCC courses. This is his first time a a Negotiation Team member, and he feels it is a privilege to advocate for our CRONA members during negotiations, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are addressed.
Christi Decena, RN
SHC, Clinical Advice Services
Nursing Experience: Christi has over 20 years of nursing experience. An adult and pediatric critical care nurse before moving to California, she worked in Vascular Access at Stanford Children’s. She later moved to her current position Stanford, where she joined the CRONA Executive Board as a Nurse Advocate and continues to serve as an Associate Nurse Advocate. She is passionate about empowering nurses and advocating for contract improvements to support nurses.
Colleen Borges, RN
LPCH Bass Center
CRONA President
Nursing Experience: 30 years in pediatric hematology, oncology, and stem cell transplant at LPCH. Outside LPCH she worked as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and lactation specialist in pediatric outpatient clinics. She has additional experience in pediatrics, postpartum, newborn nursery, and labor and delivery.
Andrew Veitch, RN (Alternate)
SHC, Operating Rooms – Ortho
Nursing Experience: Andrew has been a nurse for 30 years. He trained Cape Town, South Africa and worked as an ICU Nurse Practitioner and Trauma Resuscitation Nurse Clinician. He emigrated to California in 2003. Andrew’s Stanford career started 14 years ago, with 8 years as a Flight Nurse Specialist on the Life Flight helicopter and the last 5-6yrs as a Scrub Nurse and Circulator in the Neurosurgical Service line at 500P Operating Rooms.
Andrew is the CRONA Area Representative for Neurosurgery and this is his second round on the CRONA Negotiations Committee and first time participating in negotiations as a Negotiations Team alternate member. He feels a strong sense of doing what is right for nurses to ensure that nursing can remain a sustainable and meaningful career and this includes ensuring that applicable labor laws are followed to the letter and that nurses are protected through strong, comprehensive Collective Bargaining Agreements by professional nurse unions such as CRONA.
Chiyieko Sankus, RN (alternate)
LPCH, Bass Center Float Team
Nursing Experience: Chiyieko had dedicated her entire 18 years of nursing to Stanford Children’s and was a member of prior negotiation teams. She is passionate about improving working conditions for nurses and care conditions for patients. Her nursing experience includes oncology/hematology/stem cell transplant and oncology float team.
Erin Poh, RN (alternate)
LPCH, Labor & Delivery
Nursing Experience: first year on the Negotiating Committee. I’ll be serving as an alternate on the Bargaining Team. I’m a night shifter in Labor and Delivery and I’ve been here at LPCH for about 15 years, all in L&D. Before that, I worked at UCSF in L&D as a patient care assistant and was also a doula while finishing up my MSN (perinatal CNS) and becoming a new grad nurse. Before that I had been also working in labor… just not labor and delivery. I was a union rep for the Media Workers for about 15 years. I like to say that I always knew I wanted to work in labor, but I just didn’t get the “and Delivery” part until a bit later in life! I’m very honored to work with the amazing folks on this team and am looking forward to jumping back into the upcoming negotiations to help improve our contract for all of us — and for the patients we serve.
TJ Carella (alternate)
Cath Angio
Nursing Experience:
