Hundreds of registered nurses at Tenet hospitals in Arizona are preparing to strike Sept. 20, according to local news station KOLD News 13.
The nurses work at St. Joseph's and St. Mary's hospitals in Tucson. They are part of thousands of nurses at Tenet hospitals in Arizona, California and Florida planning walkouts this week. The nurses say current staffing levels don't allow them to provide the best patient care possible.
"The whole purpose of it is to provide the resources necessary to give optimal care," Jessica Road, a registered nurse at St. Mary's, told KOLD. "It's all about our patients."
The TV station reported that the Pima Area Labor Federation is providing food, water, signs and other support for the strike, and will ask other union members in Phoenix to come to Tucson and help support striking workers.
Hospital officials issued a statement to KOLD noting that the strike comes amid contract negotiations between National Nurses United and St. Joseph's and St. Mary's.
"The union has decided to call a strike at multiple facilities across the nation, however, we are still in preliminary negotiations with our newly formed local union and have established, what we believe to be a respectful, professional and productive relationship," they added. "We have been negotiating in good faith with union representatives over the last few months in an effort to reach a new contract, which we have made considerable progress on, and we will continue to negotiate in hopes of reaching a successful resolution."
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