CRONA Negotiations
2022 Information Page

💙💪 Dear CRONA Nurses,

This morning, after a long day yesterday with the hospitals and the federal mediator in which it became clear that the hospitals are still not listening and responding to what Nurses need in new contracts, CRONA provided Stanford and Packard hospitals with written notice of CRONA’s intent to strike. The CRONA Executive Board is calling a strike for Monday, April 25, beginning at approximately 6:45 a.m. at Stanford and 7:00 a.m. at Packard. In calling the strike for April 25, CRONA is giving the hospitals more than the legally required 10 days’ notice, because CRONA wants to ensure that safe arrangements are made for our patients. CRONA has not announced an end date for the strike.

CRONA did not reach the decision to strike lightly. It comes after 13 weeks of negotiations, more than 30 bargaining sessions, and 3 days with a federal mediator. It also comes after all of you showed up in record numbers to authorize a strike.

Why CRONA Is Calling A Strike

The hospitals have not demonstrated that they are serious about meeting CRONA’s demands on the issues that matter to Nurses.

We know the hospitals sent out late-night emails to Nurses yesterday, so let’s review the proposals that are on the table and the claims made by the hospitals.

Last night, CRONA presented a package proposal that reflects the issues that matter to Nurses. An updated side-by-side is below.

CRONA Nurses have been clear since Day 1 of these negotiations about what is needed to make nursing at the hospitals sustainable. We know that real and significant changes are needed to make sure that Nurses are supported and have the resources they need to provide the world-class care the community counts on. We also know the hospitals can afford to make those changes.

The problems that motivate CRONA’s proposals are not new. They did not appear with the pandemic. They got worse with the pandemic. And now Nurses are at a breaking point and telling the hospitals what we need.

How to Support Each Other and the Strike

Each CRONA Nurse has a duty to honor and support the strike and the picket line. We will not be working for the hospitals or taking call when we go on strike. Every member will be expected to be available for strike duty of some fashion.

The picket line demonstrates our solidarity and strength to the hospitals and the community. In the coming days, we will have detailed information about dates and times of pickets. There will be opportunities to sign up for shifts, volunteer to help in a variety of ways, and to share your ideas. We will send a call for volunteers soon.

An informed Nurse is a prepared Nurse. Keeping with CRONA’s commitment to making sure everyone is informed and has their questions answered, in the coming days, you will be receiving more information about how to be prepared and what to expect. We have Strike FAQs available on the website, as well as information on potential temporary employment through registries or other employers on a per diem basis, for those who may need it.

Upcoming events:

• TODAY, 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. – Webinar login info in email
• Wednesday, April 20 (all-day) – In person and webinar meetings. This will be an all-day information event similar to the event prior to the strike authorization vote. More details to come.
• Sunday, April 24, noon – 5:00 p.m. – Unity Picnic. Mark your calendars now. Come together as CRONA Nurses and bring your families for an afternoon of food and camaraderie.

What to Do When Managers Ask You About the Strike

You do not have to answer questions about the strike. Your managers may ask if you will be available to work during a strike period – that means they are asking if you will be willing to cross the picket line. Say “No!”

CRONA has provided clear legal notice to the hospitals of the strike; you do not have to provide individual notice.

We Appreciate the Trust You Have Put in Your CRONA Team

Striking is a serious step and we value the trust and confidence CRONA Nurses have put in the CRONA Team. We are committed to getting the contracts we deserve. Our unity and support for each other and our patients is our strength.

#KnowYourWorth #CRONAStrong

💙💪 Dear CRONA Nurses,

The unity CRONA Nurses have shown over the last many days is phenomenal. As we start the second week without contracts, your CRONA Negotiating Team wants to make sure all CRONA Nurses are informed and prepared.

Issues That Matter To Nurses

CRONA and the hospitals are still far apart on many key issues. CRONA is fighting for:

• Competitive Wages.
• Significant Improvement for Retiree Medical Benefits.
• Mental Health and Wellness Support.
• Critical Care Differential.
• Student Loan Assistance.
• Staffing Plans that Reflect Acuity.
• Improved Ability to Take Vacation.
• Improvements to Weekend Scheduling.

How To Be Prepared For What Happens Next

Your CRONA Negotiating Team is continuing to push for new contracts that reflect Nurses’ priorities. We will meet with the hospitals and federal mediator again on Tuesday, April 11. And we will continue to bargain in good faith and work toward fair contracts.

The membership’s overwhelming support for the strike authorization last week means that CRONA also has the ability to call a strike if it concludes a strike is necessary. CRONA’s goal is not to strike. But CRONA also knows that the membership is unified and prepared to strike if necessary.

CRONA Nurses should be prepared to take action. That means becoming familiar with the Strike FAQs, attending a webinar to get informed, and making a financial plan in the event of a strike. To be prepared, it is also helpful to start gathering necessary documentation:

• current immunizations (including COVID-19 vaccination)
• documentation of most recent TB testing
• copy of most recent performance evaluation in lieu of references
•  documentation of length of experience for salary negotiation
• current BLS/ACLS/PALS and other certifications
• RN licensure

Staying Informed

Keep reading these eblast messages, follow us on social media, and plan to attend the monthly membership webinar this Wednesday. Information about the webinar login will be sent on Tuesday evening. We will continue to share information and updates as soon as possible. If you have questions that are not answered by the Strike FAQs, please email your CRONA leadership at crona@crona.org.

In Unity,

Negotiation Team and Executive Board

CRONA

💙 💪 Dear CRONA Nurses,

CRONA Nurses showed up in record numbers on Thursday for the strike authorization vote. More than 4,500 Nurses are ready to go on strike if that’s what it takes to get fair contracts.

In the wake of that overwhelming show of unity, hospital administrators have started sending emails that attempt to put their own spin on the historic vote. Let’s take a moment to look at their claims:

The hospitals say they hope that, “[r]ather than taking a path that could cost lost wages for striking nurses,” Nurses will agree to “the various improvements and highly-competitive compensation package [their] current proposal would provide.”

Did the hospitals not get the message that a record number of Nurses voted to authorize a strike? Do they think CRONA Nurses don’t understand what is at stake?

CRONA Nurses know what the hospitals are offering and have said it’s not good enough. The proposed wage increases don’t even keep up with inflation, there’s no meaningful increase to retiree medical, and the hospitals flat out rejected other improvements CRONA Nurses know will help with retention and recruitment – like increased access to vacation, a critical care differential, and help with student loan payments.

The hospitals also announced that they have “taken precautionary and responsible steps to ensure [they] are able to deliver the same safe, high-quality care our patients and families have come to expect” in the event of a strike.

CRONA understands that it is important to be prepared. If CRONA were to call a strike, we would provide the hospitals with notice and expect them to make appropriate arrangements to ensure our patients are well cared for. CRONA is also committed to making sure every CRONA Nurse is prepared and supported, in the event a strike is called. So please be assured, we will have more information, recommendations, webinars, and other resources – available to all Nurses – if a strike is called.

CRONA Nurses have spoken loudly and clearly. We need contracts that allow the hospitals to recruit and keep the Nurses needed – to get to staffing levels that reflect patient acuity and do not rely on Nurses volunteering to work overtime and SNC just to meet minimum numbers. We need contracts with vastly improved retiree medical benefits so that Nurses don’t leave mid-career to seek better benefits elsewhere. And we need the hospitals to wake up and realize that the critical care areas are in crisis – and can’t keep growing unless there are real changes.

We know CRONA Nurses are paying attention. We saw that in the thousands of Nurses who came to membership meetings last week, the amazing turnout at Monday’s rally, and the record numbers of Nurses who voted on Thursday.

What happens next. Your CRONA Negotiating Team is still hard at work and met with the hospitals and federal mediator. And CRONA will continue to negotiate in good faith to try to reach agreement with the hospitals.

At the same time, CRONA takes seriously the strike authorization CRONA Nurses have given. If CRONA concludes that a strike is necessary, CRONA will provide everyone with appropriate notice.

Please stay tuned for updates in the coming days.

In unity,

Colleen Borges, President

CRONA

Dear CRONA Nurses,

Thank you to everyone who turned out to vote yesterday! 93% of all CRONA Nurses who were eligible to vote authorized CRONA to call a strike. That’s more than 4,500 Nurses who voted yes!

The record number of Nurses who voted shows that CRONA Nurses are united in authorizing a strike. Note that CRONA’s practice is to report vote results based on all eligible voters, which means that high turnout was key to these extraordinary results.

Our unity in this moment is our core strength. Nurses are standing up for each other and for the nursing profession.

Your CRONA bargaining team is meeting with the hospitals and a federal mediator today. The team will continue to negotiate with the hospitals in good faith to achieve contracts that work for Nurses.

What’s Next?

If CRONA calls a strike, we will need to give 10 days’ notice, as required by law. If CRONA were to call a strike, it would be the third time in CRONA’s history and the first In more than two decades.

THANK YOU TO ALL CRONA NURSES. You work day and night to provide world-class care to our patients and are bringing that same commitment to standing up for better working conditions.

#CRONAStrong

In This Issue:

1. Stanford’s Town Hall Today
2. Update on yesterday’s bargaining session
3. Links for voting proxy, FAQ, sign-up for in-person voting
4. Wednesday webinar login and reminder
5. Photos from CRONA Rally for Nurses
6. Side-by-side on contract issues

April 5, 2022

Dear CRONA Nurses,

💙 💪Stanford’s Town Hall Today

Some of you may have participated in Stanford’s Shared Leadership Town Hall today. The hospital described in-depth some coming improvements to its (1) mental health services, (2) diversity, equity and inclusion trainings, and (3) workplace violence prevention program – without acknowledging the extent to which these are topics of ongoing negotiations and the improvements are in response to CRONA’s proposals. We’re not surprised that the hospital isn’t giving CRONA Nurses the credit they deserve – but it’s still disappointing.

💙 💪Update on Bargaining

Even as we prepare for the Strike Authorization vote, CRONA is working hard to get contracts that support Nurses. Yesterday, your CRONA negotiating team and the hospitals met with a federal mediator. We also had a bargaining session in which we addressed the hospitals’ most recent staffing proposal.

Since January, CRONA has been explaining to the hospitals that state law requires staffing to patient census and acuity – and that, at Stanford, the current “grids” do not provide sufficient guidance that adjusts staffing needs based on patient acuity. Yet the hospitals continue to propose contract language – for both Stanford and Packard (which hasn’t used “grids” for over a decade) – that relies on staffing grids. While the parties appear to have common ground in understanding the need to staff to acuity, we do not yet have agreement on what that looks like on a shift-by-shift basis.

Many CRONA Nurses have been writing in about difficulties in staffing units. And your CRONA bargaining team is bringing that experience to the table – explaining the sort of tools that are needed at the bedside to ensure safe staffing.

As we announced yesterday, CRONA and the hospitals will meet for another mediation session on Friday – the day after our strike authorization vote.

💙 💪What’s Next

⏰ STRIKE AUTHORIZATION VOTE. We need every CRONA Nurse to vote. Submit a voting proxy now if you can’t vote in person. If you are voting in person, make a plan.

STRIKE AUTHORIZATION VOTE

Thursday, April 7

5:45 a.m. – 9:45 p.m.

Sheraton Palo Alto Hotel

💙 💪 Voting Day Tips:

1. Polls are open early and late – come before or after your shift.
2. Look for the blue CRONA flags at the hotel – that’s where the vote will be held.
3. Coming in on your day off? Best time is midday, rather than shift change time.
4. Make a plan to come with friends, make an event of it – voting in person is fun!
5. Parking is available on site, and the hotel is very close to the Palo Alto Caltrain station.
6. If you already submitted a proxy but would like to vote proxies for Nurses who are not able to vote in person, please come to the voting site and let the Ballot & Elections committee know.

💙 💪CRONA Nurses At Yesterday’s Rally!

Our Contracts Expire This Week

Dear CRONA Nurses,

Thanks to the eagle-eyed CRONA Nurse who noticed that last night’s round-up did not include retiree medical benefits. Unfortunately, its omission does not mean that we have agreement on this issue that is so critical to Nurse retention.

Yesterday, as part of its package proposal, CRONA continued to call for an initial 2.5x increase in the retiree medical benefit, which is a lump-sum payment into a Retirement Health Reimbursement Account (RHRA), with two 5% increases to follow that large initial increase. The most recent proposal from the hospitals would provide only two 5% increases during the 3-year contract term.

Why does CRONA’s proposal make sense? After decades of caring for patients, Nurses should be able to retire and know that their service is honored and that their employer will cover a large portion of medical costs in retirement.

What’s the difference between CRONA’s proposal and the hospitals’ proposal?

CRONA’s proposal gains Nurses about another decade of premium costs in retirement, as compared to the current benefit.

The hospitals’ proposal of only two 5% increases barely gains an extra year of premium costs in retirement.

How long will the lump-sum benefit last me?

Under CRONA’s proposal: A Nurse retiring at 65 could expect the medical retirement benefit to pay for premium costs for more than 14 years.

Under the hospitals’ proposal: A Nurse retiring at 65 could expect the medical retirement benefit to pay for premium costs for about half that time.

***

CRONA and the hospitals are in negotiations again today and tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates.

In unity,

Your CRONA Negotiating Team

Dear CRONA Nurses,

⏰ Our Nurse contracts at Stanford and Packard hospitals expire at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. ⏰

We’re continuing to push for new, strong contracts that treat Nurses as professionals and reward us for all the sacrifices we’ve made to make Stanford and Packard some of the best health systems in the world.

☎️ CRONA has proposed–and the hospitals agreed–to meet with a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service on Monday, April 4, if the parties are not able to reach agreement before then.

Want to take action?

✏️ Send a message to management! Write the hospitals’ administration and tell them that Nurses are united for fair contracts. We’ve created a simple tool to help you write and send an email. The process is simple:

1. Click the link below
2. A pre-written email will populate with the email addresses of administrators, a subject line, and a template email
3. TO MAKE YOUR EMAIL AS STRONG 💪 AS POSSIBLE, PLEASE ADD YOUR OWN STORY, LIKE IN THE EXAMPLE BELOW
4. When you’re ready, click SEND

The hospitals dismiss our experiences as “anecdotal.” Well, then let’s fill their inboxes with “anecdotes” about the reality of our work. Your emails will also cc a CRONA inbox so we can see your stories and celebrate how many emails Nurses are sending to management.

To get started, click this link to launch the pre-populated email.

Remember to personalize it! The highlighted section is an example of where and how to add your story:

Dear Hospital Administrators,

As a CRONA Nurse, I’m writing to urge you to support fair contracts that create meaningful improvements in working conditions for me and all CRONA Nurses. We need these changes to make nursing sustainable and ensure that we are able to continue to provide world-class care.  

I’ve been an L&D nurse at Packard for 13 years. Over the last two years, I’ve seen so many cherished colleagues leave because the stress from short staffing was too much. I’m exhausted, and we’re understaffed all the time. My rent is up 30% in the last few years, and with gas prices like this I can’t keep working here if I have to move farther away. Nurses like me need safe staffing to make our jobs sustainable, and we need fair pay so we can afford to live and work here in the Bay area.

Nurses need more support. Our contracts need to ensure safe staffing, deliver wages and benefits that will help recruit the new nurses we need and retain the world-class talent we already have, provide nurses with meaningful medical benefits in retirement, and support our mental health and wellness.

I support CRONA and CRONA’s solutions. It’s time to listen to what Nurses need.!

-YOUR NAME

We’re pushing hard for fair contracts, and we need to all act together now to ensure that we get what we deserve.

Today, CRONA presented a comprehensive package of proposals based on your input that is designed to support Nurses and make nursing a sustainable career:

💙 Competitive wages: 8% across-the-board increases to base hourly wages to encourage Nurses to sign-on and stay, and accelerate Step 8 to provide incentives for experienced Nurses to stay.

💙 Stay-on bonuses: We know you all see the ads for sign-on bonuses. We’ve asked the hospitals to recognize the contributions of Nurses who stick with them by providing “stay-on” bonuses.

💙 Critical care differential: A differential for critical care Nurses in high acuity areas that have not been able to recruit and retain Nurses.

💙 No-cost medical plan: CRONA is standing strong in rejecting the hospitals’ proposal to eliminate the contracts’ guarantee of a no-charge health plan for self and children.

💙 Mental health and wellness support: We need improved access to mental health counseling and minimum standards for EAP going forward.

💙 Student loan reimbursements: A new student loan reimbursement program to allow Nurses and the hospitals to take advantage of current law providing favorable tax treatment for some student loan payments.

💙 Safe staffing: The hospitals need to staff to acuity and provide guidance for when units should staff up to address patient needs.

💙 Expanded access to vacation: Nurses need to be able to take time off for self care. and schedule vacation time.

💙 Workplace violence prevention: CRONA called for behavioral response teams at both hospitals to respond immediately to situations Nurses identify as having the potential to lead to workplace violence and the hospitals have agreed – but the parties continue to discuss who will be on those teams and how Nurses will be trained on response protocols.

💙 Weekends: Nurses should have a say in how weekends are scheduled in their units.

💙Anti-bias training: CRONA is calling for live training for managers and Nurses on implicit bias and how to be an ally.

The ball is now in the hospitals’ court. We urge the hospitals to rise to the occasion and agree to CRONA’s common-sense proposals.

Dear CRONA Nurses,

We’re getting down to the wire. We have an intense week of bargaining sessions scheduled this week. We are looking hard at all of the proposals on the table and plotting a course forward. CRONA is solution-oriented. We hope the hospitals will join us in looking for solutions that make nursing sustainable and ensure that Nurses want to come and stay. CRONA has been clear about what Nurses need.

We will have detailed updates on the issues that matter to Nurses in the days to come, including:

💙 Improvements to wages. It’s inflation, but it’s not just inflation. It’s the high cost of living, but it’s not just the cost of living. It’s competition with other hospitals seeking to recruit our Nurses, but it’s more than that. It’s time to recognize the worth of our outstanding Nurses – we know it, let’s say it out loud.

💙 Strong health benefits. Say no to the hospitals’ proposal to take-back the no-charge health plan for self and children.

💙 Needed mental health and wellness support. Say yes to improved access to mental health care for Nurses, so Nurses can take care of themselves and thrive in their personal and professional lives.

Please take 2 minutes to listen to one CRONA Nurse as she shares her experience trying to access mental health care. We thank her for her courage and her vulnerability in sharing with all of us, and stand in unity with her as we fight for Nurses’ mental health.

We have cared for thousands of families throughout the pandemic, at the expense of our own physical, mental and social health. It’s time for the hospitals to listen to us about what we need and what our families need.

I support CRONA.

Dear CRONA Nurses,

As we go into the last week of scheduled bargaining, we want to provide an update of where we are and how we’re fighting for Nurses. The contracts expire Thursday, March 31, so expect the pace of updates to pick up.

Now Is The Time. If you haven’t sent in your story or shared with us what is important to you as a CRONA Nurse, now is the time. If your unit is consistently short-staffed, missing breaks, or is staffed with lots of travelers, now is the time to speak up. Write an ADO and write CRONA.

Now is our time to have the hospital administrators hear what it’s really like at the bedside.

Nurses’ Priorities. We started these negotiations by bringing Nurses’ voices to the table – and inviting the hospitals to work together with us to:

    ▶️ Solve the understaffing problem at both hospitals by making our wages and benefits the most attractive in the Bay Area.

    ▶️ Make nursing at the hospitals sustainable by ensuring that the hospitals staff to acuity, improve access to PTO, and ensure fair weekend staffing.

We know that this is a tall order. There is a nursing shortage in California, Nurses are leaving the profession at record rates, and cost of living in the Bay Area only gets more expensive. But CRONA Nurses are problem-solvers and we’ve got solutions. The hospitals have not claimed poverty, so it’s a question of whether the hospitals will join us in making sure we can continue providing world-class patient care.

CRONA’s Solutions

• Increase wages by an amount that will reflect the rising cost of living and will ensure that experienced Nurses do not have incentives to leave.
• Keep the option of a no-cost medical plan for Nurses and their children.
• Increase the retiree medical benefit to gain about a decade of insurance premium coverage during Nurses’ retirement.
• Provide a new differential for critical care units where the hospitals have been unable to ensure adequate staffing.
• Ensure safe patient staffing that reflects patient acuity, as well as patient census.
• Support Nurses’ mental health and wellness by improving the EAP and reimbursing Nurses for private counseling.
• Improve the sustainability of nursing by increasing the number of pre-approved vacation weeks Nurses can take.
• Ensure an effective emergency response to workplace violence and in-person training for Nurses on emergency response protocols.
• Train managers and Nurses on implicit bias and how to confront harassing or discriminatory behavior.
• Take advantage of a new federal law and help Nurses with student debt payments. 

CRONA Is Ready. We are ready to put in the hard work to reach solutions that will make a difference for Nurses. We hope the hospitals will do the same.

Stay tuned for further updates this week. And visit CRONA’s website for information on how to be ready for whatever comes next.

In unity,

I support CRONA.

Dear CRONA Nurses,

💪💙 Tell the hospitals — I support CRONA

Hear Nurses. Believe Nurses. That’s the message we need to send to the hospitals.

Today’s update is dedicated to the over-worked, under-paid and absolutely exhausted critical care Nurses. You’ve been writing in about what you experience day-in and day-out. We’ve been sharing your stories at the bargaining table.

Not surprisingly, Nurses who are in the ICUs tell it best. Take the time to read their full testimonies.

💙       “To state the truth as bluntly as possible, the CVICU at LPCH is in a state of drowning. Drowning in high acuity patients and moral distress due to chronic short staffing and lack of basic supplies.”

💙       “No one besides my coworkers understands what I’m going through. I’ve cried at work every day this week. Sometimes I hide behind my IV pump and cry.”

💙       “These nurses are not inexperienced or too sensitive. They are seasoned, highly skilled nurses who have given everything they have for these patients.”

💙      “The patients in the CVICU DESERVE the highest nursing care available. The burnout in the CVICU has reached a dangerous precipice. We simply do not feel valued, appreciated, or understood. An ICU differential is crucial to retaining highly trained CVICU nurses.”

💙       “If the hospital expects to continue to provide exceptional care to their patients, they need attractive wages and benefits to help bring and keep talent here. Hiring travelers is a short-term solution….”

💙       “We have no staff. We’re 6+ nurses short every day. Today I held my baby’s hand all day. … I don’t think she will make it. The hospital is still refusing to pay us a critical care differential. I don’t remember the last time I worked without a code. The managers send out emails to tell us how much they appreciate us. They don’t pay us more or even buy us pizza. They get to go hide in their office while we hold dying babies’ hands.”

💙       “Stanford prides itself on providing top notch care, attracting patients from as far away as the east coast seeking the level of care we strive to provide each day. This care is only possible because many of us work 16 hour shifts, and come in on our off days to staff for high equipment needs. Staffing that requires nurses to work overtime almost every single shift is not ‘rich’ or ‘robust.’”

💙       “Remember at the beginning of the pandemic when everyone used to call us heroes and wrote messages of hope and admiration on the walkway on our way into work? It was easy to tell us how great we were when we weren’t yet asking for anything. I thought that after the pandemic and after the whole WORLD saw what anxiety and mental anguish ICU nurses endured, that it would be a no-brainer for you to acknowledge us and recognize an ICU differential. I thought … you would be able to recognize that your nurses have been showing up to work EVERY SINGLE DAY, eating the costs of a long commute, allowing our mental health to be placed on the backburner so that our patients could take priority.”

CRONA’s economic package is designed to improve staffing at the hospitals. We need more experienced Nurses – throughout the hospital and clinics, and especially in these critical care areas.

Nurses hear Nurses. Nurses believe Nurses. It’s time for the hospitals to do the same.

We have cared for thousands of families throughout the pandemic, at the expense of our own physical, mental and social health. It’s time for the hospitals to listen to us about what we need and what our families need.

 I support CRONA.

Dear CRONA Nurses,

💪💙 Tell the hospitals — I support CRONA

CRONA was shocked this morning to hear the Packard Chief Nursing Officer, Jesus Cepero – who has not once come to the bargaining table – tell more than a hundred people in a virtual Town Hall that CRONA negotiations most likely will not be resolved by March 31. This was certainly news to your CRONA negotiating team members, several of whom were on the early morning call. The Chief Nursing Officer presented information about the hospital’s planned workplace violence response that had not been presented to CRONA yet, and that was directly responsive to a pending CRONA proposal.

We told the hospitals we will not stand for this disrespect of the bargaining process. CRONA has been committed to addressing the issues that matter to Nurses – and advocating for wages, benefits and working conditions that will make Nursing sustainable – at the table with the hospitals. We are committed to using this last week before the contracts expire to make real progress for Nurses.

Today, CRONA told the hospitals that it’s past time to focus on the real issues confronting Nurses. It is time to move past the long list of hospital take-backs. Though we’ve made some progress with the hospitals backing off their proposal to eliminate contract language protecting part-time positions and the attendance policy, there are still crucial issues on the table.

Here’s what we’ve told the hospitals are the real priorities –

💙 We need to fix the understaffing in the hospitals. That means competitive wages and benefits.

💙 Nurses get multiple requests per day to come in to help their understaffed units. Nurses go in because they worry about their colleagues and their patients. But the hospitals’ claim to be “richly” staffed is insulting.

💙 Even as the hospitals refuse to admit it in negotiations, nearly everyone in the hospitals understands and is talking about the fact that the ICUs don’t have enough staff. The hospitals can’t hire enough ICU Nurses and can’t keep them because the ICU work is so stressful.

Is anyone at the hospitals listening??? It’s almost like they can’t hear us–or don’t want to. CRONA is working to bring your voices to the table.

We are burnt out, but we’ll say it a little louder for the people in the C-Suite.

We have cared for thousands of families throughout the pandemic, at the expense of our own physical, mental and social health. It’s time for the hospitals to listen to us about what we need and what our families need.

Next time you see a Chief Nursing Officer or HR rep bringing cookies and asking what you think of negotiations – you can tell them it’s time to believe Nurses about what Nurses need. 

I support CRONA.

🍀Dear CRONA Nurses,

Update 10.2: Two weeks to contract expiration

CRONA Nurses Are Standing Together ✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿

A big thanks to everyone who is taking action to demand fair contracts. Hundreds of Nurses rallied last week for better working conditions, and in the last two weeks over a thousand Nurses have logged into CRONA webinars to stay informed.

Nurses are paying attention. We see the disconnect between management’s words and the reality of bedside nursing in the hospitals, and we’re coming together to change that.

CRONA Nurses Telling It Like It Is ✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿

Your CRONA negotiating team has been sharing Nurses’ experience with hospital management. The hospitals are not “richly” staffed, as they like to claim. Multiple units are understaffed and not able to fill vacancies. Our solution: improve wages, benefits and working conditions!

Stay Informed and Know the Issues

While CRONA and the hospitals have made progress on some matters, we are far apart on many important issues. See the side-by-side below.

#CRONAstrong

Dear CRONA Nurses,

Nurses and physician residents at Stanford and Packard are fed up with the hospitals and standing up together to demand more support.

Last week, hundreds of Nurses rallied outside the hospitals to speak out for fair contracts, and we made our voices heard all over the Bay Area! Also last week, patient placement nurse specialists and case managers at Packard voted to join CRONA. And a supermajority of Stanford resident physicians recently requested recognition of their union.

✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿 The hospitals need to keep hearing from bedside providers. While CRONA continues to emphasize the urgency of making nursing sustainable, management’s proposals show how tone-deaf and removed they are from the grueling conditions we face. And management has been issuing anti-union messages to Stanford resident physicians. We are disappointed — but unsurprised — that the hospitals are not embracing the solutions and voices of bedside providers.

💪When we fight together for better work and patient care conditions, we win.

📣Stanford resident physicians will join Nurses for the CRONA member webinar this Wednesday at 8pm — we hope to see you there! Let’s stand together for fair contracts for Nurses that meet our urgent need for greater resources and support. Let’s stand together for residents’ right to form a union and the benefits that come with it: the ability to influence working conditions, the chance to improve patient care conditions, and the power to bargain for the resources and support bedside providers need to deliver world-class care.

⏲ We have 17 days left until our current contracts expire. Please stay up to date by making sure you and Nurses in your unit are subscribed to CRONA’s updates! If you’re interested in sharing your story with us and with the news media — please email crona@crona.org. crona@crona.org.

#CRONAstrong

Dear CRONA Nurses,

❣️ 💪Yesterday, hundreds of Nurses rallied with CRONA and sent a strong, unified message to the hospitals’ management: Stanford and Packard Nurses are unified in our demands for fair contracts!!! 

Rally Recap:

CRONA Nurses were seen and heard all over the Bay Area thanks to everyone who showed up and showed their support!

📣 Leah McFadden told KTVU: “The hospital is pretty tone deaf in terms of what is happening at the bedside and what is happening to Nurses here. We just want to show them that we’re all here supporting each other.”

📣 Chiyieko Sankus told Stanford Daily: “We are very proud to take care of the families we take care of. We have to care for our families too, and we are fighting for things like mental health so that we can come and bring our best selves.”

📣Kathy Stormberg told KRON: “I want Nursing to be a sustainable career that people will want to stay…We’re losing [very experienced people and] we want to retain all the Nurses who are here. We need more staff… We need to get [unfilled] positions filled, we need ways to attract people and make Nursing a career that people want to come to.”

Bargaining Updates

We went back to the bargaining table today and continued our fight for wages, benefits, and working conditions that help us rest and recover and maintain the quality of care we’re proud to deliver.

• We demonstrated that CRONA’s retiree medical benefits proposal is far superior to the hospitals’: CRONA’s could allow Nurses to cover about a decade more of premium costs in their retirement than the hospitals’.
• We defended our proposal for a substantial across-the-board increase in wages to help Nurses cope with rapidly rising prices.
• We rejected the hospitals’ proposal that would allow management to implement incentive programs for Nurses without bargaining with CRONA.
• We told the hospitals that we oppose cutting the no-cost medical insurance plan for CRONA Nurses.

⏲ We have 21 days left until our current contracts expire. We return to the bargaining table next week. Please stay up to date by making sure you and Nurses in your unit are subscribed to CRONA’s updates! If you’re interested in sharing your story with us and with the news media — please email crona@crona.org.

CRONA’s First Rally for Unity

Couldn’t make it to the rally? Have a look at what it was all about – Nurses standing up for each other. This was so much fun for everyone – watch the video to see what it was like!

Interested in making a video to share with CRONA Nurses? Let us know! We know there are lots of stories out there – amazing stories we want to hear.

#CRONAstrong

How Did Nurse Pay Compare to Grocery Clerk Pay in 1978? Watch Ceci’s CRONAStrong CRONAStory video to find out! Interested in making a video to share with CRONA Nurses? Let us know! We know there are lots of stories out there – amazing stories we want to hear.

#CRONAstrong

Know Your Worth – Straight Talk CRONA presented its economic package to the hospitals 10 days ago and received the hospitals’ response today. Are you frustrated by the updates from the Chief Nursing Officers Dale Beatty and Jesus Cepero, who aren’t even at the table? Here’s the straight talk on what’s happening with economics and what we heard from the hospitals today. We know that it is not sustainable to staff the hospitals with overtime and traveler nurses. That has to end. And we have the solution. The hospitals should be fighting hard to keep and recruit Nurses – not fighting our proposals. The pandemic has been hard on Nurses, and the hospitals should invest their earnings in ensuring that nursing at Stanford and Packard is sustainable. Hospital Financial Information:

How We Became CRONA Strong “I sat down and I thought about it for a while, and decided there were a number of things the hospital needed to do to make things better for nurses and keep people there.” That’s Marion Mullin, CRONA’s first President, describing how she and her colleagues first came together to form our union. Her story is powerful, and it’s timely. Since nurses like Marion formed CRONA in 1966, we’ve stood up for one another and won real change—but we all know there is always more work to be done. Please take a few minutes to watch Marion’s story and hear where it all started.

#CRONAstrong

Dear CRONA Nurses,

As negotiations continue, it’s time for us to ramp up our action and show the hospitals our united strength of purpose. 💪💪🏼💪🏿

Thanks for turning out! 

This past Sunday, hundreds of Nurses turned out for our first event. 💙💙💙 We were overwhelmed with your enthusiasm and solidarity—now let’s carry that forward to show the hospitals that Nurses are UNITED for fair contracts!

📣 Join your fellow CRONA Nurses and our allies on Wednesday, March 9 for an Informational Rally at morning shift change from 7 to 8 a.m. 📣

Show your solidarity for Nursing. Stand up and Stand out! Our united presence will signal to the hospitals and our community that Nurses are committed to making Stanford and Packard Hospitals the best places to work.

Sign up here to let us know you can make it to the Informational Rally on March 9! 📋

#CRONAstrong

💪 Bedside providers at Stanford are fed up!

Dear CRONA Nurses,

Worker power is growing at the hospitals!! This week, Stanford’s resident physicians submitted a supermajority of cards and requested recognition to form a union. 👏🏿👏🏽👏🏻

Love for our profession and our patients brings CRONA Nurses and resident physicians together. We are proud to be in this fight for fairness with other bedside providers — to demand that the hospitals’ management meet our urgent need for greater resources and support. 

🆘 CRONA Nurses are fighting for better working conditions, pay and benefits. Read all about it here. ✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿

Here are ways YOU can take action:

1️⃣   THIS SUNDAY: Come for food, drink, swag at this Sunday’s CRONA’ Negotiations Event! Members of our Negotiations Committee will be in attendance and ready to discuss our contract proposals. See more details here. 

2️⃣    IN MARCH: Join CRONA Nurses at information rallies in support of each other, in support of our union, in support of our profession, in support of our purpose: securing what Nurses need to provide excellent patient care. Sign up here.

3️⃣    WHEN YOU HAVE A SPARE 10 MINUTES: As we work for our new contract, we need your stories. Click here for instructions on how to record and share your story with us or write us at crona@crona.org

#CRONAstrong

Dear CRONA Nurses,

Today, your Nursing colleagues on the CRONA Negotiations Team presented our economic demands to Stanford and Packard hospitals’ management. Like the noneconomic proposals, these economic proposals are informed by the thousands of responses we received from the negotiations survey and the priorities you identified!

⏳With 38 days left until the expiration of our current contracts on March 31st, we are working hard to secure contracts that will support current Nurses and attract new Nurses to the hospitals.

In our presentation today, we emphasized the significant challenges facing Nurses and the hospitals in our mission to deliver the world-class standard of care we are proud to provide:

• Between Stanford and Packard hospitals, there are nearly 500 open positions that have been posted for more than 8 weeks, a vast majority of which are full-time positions.
• It is unsustainable to continue to staff the hospitals by expecting Nurses to continuously work overtime, double-time and short notice call (SNC). In the past three years alone, not counting overtime and double-time pay, SNC has cost $48 million and $13 million at SHC and LPCH, respectively.
• Our own CRONA survey and multiple independent studies show that employers need to commit to change and a significant increase in resources to retain Nurses.
  • Nearly 45% of CRONA Nurses we surveyed are considering leaving. Many Stanford and Packard Nurses are being offered sign-on bonuses at other institutions and invitations to work as travel Nurses with hourly pay and stipends that are more than double their current wage rates.
  • A March 2021 McKinsey study reported 22% of Nurses may leave their current position providing direct patient care within the next yea Of these Nurses, 60% said they were more likely to leave since the pandemic began.
  • The top recommendation of the McKinsey study was that Nurses are looking for “more support” from their employers: they need “appreciation and economic rewards commensurate with their value” and “breaks to recharge are paramount.”

😡The hospitals intend to respond to our economic proposals next week – but so far, we’ve been deeply troubled by the hospitals’ responses to our solutions for ensuring safe staffing, providing resources for Nurses to stay safe and healthy, and making our work more sustainable with time for rest and vacation. See here for a side-by-side comparison of Nurses’ proposals versus the hospitals’. 

💪 We need to stand together as Nurses and show the hospitals we know our worth and our power! Please read below for more details on CRONA’s opening economic proposals and opportunities to show the hospitals we need real progress.

CRONA Economic Proposals

CRONA Nurses are seeking wages and benefits that will give our world-class Nurses a clear reason to stay at the hospitals and attract more Nurses. You asked for real changes and we delivered that message today. If Stanford and Packard want to be the best hospitals in the region and attract the best Nurses, they need to offer the best economic package. CRONA’s proposals will:

✅ Ensure competitive wages that reflect the high cost of living in the Bay Area and rising inflation, keep the hospitals in the lead on nursing compensation, and reward Nurses for their experience and loyalty.

• Across-the-board 8% yearly increase in hourly wage rate. These raises will ensure Stanford and Packard are the top-paying hospitals.
• Two “stay on” bonuses, the first following the ratification of contracts and the second one year after ratification. While some newer Nurses have received sign-on bonuses, all Nurses’ outstanding service and loyalty to the hospitals during extraordinary times deserve recognition.
• Accelerate the longevity steps so that Nurses’ wages don’t stagnate.

✅ Provide benefits and resources for Nurses to obtain real mental health and wellness support and time to recharge.

• A new program that would allow Nurses to be reimbursed for out-of-pocket counseling and therapy costs, up to a total of $2,000 per year. Nurses wrote in and shared stories of the difficulty of getting help through EAP, and we shared those experiences (anonymously) with the hospitals’ management today to show the urgent need for change.
• Across-the-board increases to PTO accrual rates. CRONA Nurses have stressed how important it is to have time to rest and your team delivered that message today.

✅ Make our medical retirement competitive.

• Substantial increases to the retiree medical benefits would bring the hospitals closer to the competition. Thousands of you called out medical retirement as a top priority. CRONA’s proposal would increase the current lump-sum payments by two-and-a-half times in the first contract year, with 7% increases in the following two years.

✅ Support Nurses carrying student loans.

• A loan repayment program that would provide Nurses with money to pay down nursing school debt each year for the next three years.

✅ Adjust differentials to support Nurses: critical care and weekend differential. 

• A new hourly differential is essential to recruiting and retaining Nurses in the critical care areas. On a daily basis, these Nurses face understaffing, high stress, extremely acute patients, and a need for expertise on multiple types of equipment. Without improvement and recognition, work in these areas is not sustainable.
• Packard Nurses’ flat rate weekend differential of $3.00, which has decreasing value over time, needs to be replaced with the 5% weekend differential paid at Stanford and other Bay Area hospitals.

✅ Pay for Occupational Health visits.

• Nurses who are injured or exposed to an infectious disease on the job and are sent for assessment to Occupational Health Services or the Emergency Department should be paid for their time.

We are CRONA!💙

Dear CRONA Nurses,

We know our worth, and we won’t let the hospitals forget it!

✔️We are instrumental in maintaining the world-class care SHC and LPCH are proud to provide, including for the high-acuity patients that come through the hospitals’ doors.

✔️We keep our patients and the Bay Area community healthy with our compassionate care and bedside knowledge.

✔️And through wave after wave of Covid-19, we show up — even when we have very little energy to keep going — because we love our patients, we love our coworkers, and we believe in the power of our profession.

The hospitals’ management keeps demonstrating how far they are from Nurses’ reality. In today’s bargaining session, they defended the hospitals’ staffing practices by saying their staffing is “richer” than the absolute minimum ratios.

⚡Newsflash: Following the bare minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios is not the same as staffing based on patient acuity. We know better staffing is needed to provide world-class patient care. ⚡

The hospitals need to acknowledge our experiences and the solutions we’re proposing in order to reach fair contracts. While CRONA’s proposals are focused on strengthening support and resources for Nurses, the hospitals’ responses fall short of what Nurses need. 🙅 😤 See for yourself: Side-by-side 2/17/2022

This is why we need to stand together as Nurses! Join our fight, and we can make sure the hospitals provide us the same support, care and respect that we show every day for our patients.

#CRONAstrong

Dear CRONA Nurses,

Contract negotiations are our opportunity to show the hospitals that we Know Our Worth. After two years of working through a pandemic with insufficient acknowledgement from the hospitals, Nurses deserve contracts that allow us to work sustainably with enough time to rest and recover so we can provide the best care possible.

We continue to remind the hospitals that Nurses are worthy of:

• Resources to promote mental and emotional health. We need guaranteed access to prompt and appropriate counseling, and we need to be able to take a mental health day without fear of retaliation or discipline.
• Additional availability of pre-approved time off. Nurses need vacation! We need additional weeks of pre-approved vacation, even when our PTO is depleted..
• Staffing protections. We need safe patient staffing plans that are tied to patient acuity and allow us to take state-mandated breaks and meal periods.
• Stronger protection from violence at work. We need hospital policies that prevent and respond to workplace violence through in-person training.
• Diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments where all Nurses can succeed. We need the hospital to implement interactive training to address bias in the workplace.

📰 CRONA In the Press

Our fight for a fair contract made it into the Stanford Daily!

Mark O’Neill shared the immense physical, emotional, and mental toll that Nurses face when they are overworked and understaffed:

He had been driving for nearly an hour and he felt like he could fall asleep at any second. This was his third graveyard shift in as many days. “It’s difficult,” O’Neill said. “It’s stressful. I don’t know if you can even imagine what it feels like.”

As we move forward in negotiations our fight is to make sure the hospitals’ management understands what we are experiencing every day and that they listen to our solutions to make this work more sustainable. We want to hear from you! Please write in your stories to crona@crona.org.