It’s day one of a three-day picket for workers with Sharp Healthcare.
More than 5,000 nurses are expected to be on the picket line, with their motto, “The only way to fight for you is to also fight for ourselves.”
The United Nurses Associations of California and the Union of Health Care Professionals had their contract expire on September 30.
They're now negotiating a new contract with Sharp, asking for higher raises.
The nurses we spoke with say they are paid less than workers at places like UC San Diego and Kaiser Permanente.
But Sharp contests that, telling ABC 10News they are paid at or above market rate.
Another main issue on the picket line is Sharp's sick leave policy.
The nurses say they have an extremely slow accrual rate for sick days, and can be disciplined for using them.
Sharp Healthcare responded, saying it is following the law.
“They said they're in line with the law, and they didn't want to have a discussion about that, so we've now asked for 48 hours front-loaded. And we asked them to take away the disciplinary measure of that policy. So, currently, they write you up if you don't have enough sick time banked, but we only accrue 2 hours per pay period. So it takes most nurses about 10 weeks to get 1 day,” said Danielle Begley, a registered nurse.
In a statement, Sharp told ABC 10News that they provide nurses “with the resources for managing sick days and leaves of absence when needed. “
This is a picket, not a work stoppage or a strike.
Sharp says that, because of this, they remain fully staffed and do not expect any impact on patients.
This picket will continue Thursday at 6 a.m. at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, and on Friday at 6 a.m. at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center.
The next round of negotiations is scheduled for October 22, 24, and 29.
