"When it comes to the safety of our patients, we are not taking 'no' for an answer"

Why We Organized with CNA

For our patients. As RNs, it is our duty to advocate for our patients, and we have seen patient care standards at Saint John's deteriorate as management has prioritized the bottom line.

We know that RNs at CNA-represented facilities in California and beyond have contracts guaranteeing safe patient care standards and RN Professional Practice Committees to enforce those standards.

We are asking that Saint John's Management join with us in fair and amicable contract negotiations through CNA as we believe that it is the right thing for us and our patients.

Campaign Time Line

Oct 2, 2008 - Saint John's RNs deliver a petition indicating their desire to organize for with CNA for collective patient care advocacy rights, signed by a majority of their colleagues to hospital administration. Read the Petition.

Oct 11, 2008 - Saint John's RNs reach out to Saint John's donor community at the annual Caritas ball. Read about the event.

Nov 1, 2008 - Saint John's RNs show their unity by wearing ribbons reading "Saint John's RNs for Safe Patient Care." Management reacts defensively, and breaks federal labor law by demanding RNs remove the ribbons.

Nov 20, 2008 - Saint John's RNs and community supporters hold a press conference to announce they have been forced to file Federal Unfair Labor Practice Charges against Saint John's for violating their free speech rights on the day of the ribbon campaign. Read about the charges.

Dec 17, 2008 - Saint John's RNs, with support from nearby UCLA RNs, hold a candle light Vigil to protest diversion of patient care funds to highly paid anti-union consultants. Saint John's administration admits to hiring consultants and defends the decision. Read about the Vigil.

Feb 26, 2008 - Saint John's RNs release a unit-by-unit report on the patient care issues caused by management's emphasis on the bottom line and refusal to listen to the concerns voiced by their own RNs. Read the Patient Care Issues Report.

March 4, 2009 - 14-year Saint John's RN is reinstated with back pay after her colleagues and local clergy demanded management end her unjust suspension for speaking up about patient care issues in the Oncology Department. Read about the incident.

May 21, 2009 - After Saint John's management ejects off-duty RNs from the hospital grounds and threatens them with arrest - in stark contrast to past practice - RNs hold a press conference to announce they have filed further Unfair Labor Practice charges. Read about the ULPs.

July 29, 2009 - As Saint John's administration holds a ribbon-cutting for their sleek new building, several dozen RNs, local clergy and community supporters hold a ribbon tying ceremony to call upon Saint John's to recognize Catholic Social Teaching and come to an agreement with their RNs for a fair and just organizing process without acrimony. Read about the ceremony.

Sept 6, 2009 - After attending the Labor Day mass, Saint John's RNs deliver a letter to Cardinal Mahoney describing Saint John's anti-RN campaign and its refusal to enter into a local agreement for a fair organizing process as called for by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' white paper "Respecting the Just Rights of Workers." Read "Respecting the Just Rights of Workers."

Oct 10, 2009 - Saint John's RNs trace an "Employee Survey" distributed by management to The Foresight Group, an expensive PR group with ties to union busting consultants that specializes in diverting employees from seeking collective bargaining rights. Read about the survey. Read about The Foresight Group.

Oct 24, 2009 - Saint John's RNs greet Saint John's donors on the way to their annual charity ball with roses and a second petition from a majority of Saint John' RNs calling on management to abide by Catholic Social Teaching and enter into an organizing agreement with it's caregivers.

Oct 29, 2009 - Nurses and Neighbors invites Saint John's management and City of Santa Monica elected officials to a public meeting to discuss the environmental health concerns related to Saint John's long term construction project. Management refuses to enter into the discussion. Read the Santa Monica Daily Press coverage.

Nov 4, 2009 - Santa Monica Daily Press columnist takes up Saint John's RNs' call for the Hospital to fix the sewage odor in patient care areas and in the surrounding neighborhood. Read the column.

Jan 20, 2010 - Santa Monica Daily Press' Word in Edgewise column calls on Sister Sue Miller of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Saint John's sponsoring order of Women Religious to address the environmental health impacts of its development project. Read the column.

Jan 22, 2010 - Saint John's Labor and Delivery RN Liz Wade, in a Letter to the Editor of the Santa Monica Daily Press, calls on Saint John's administration to open it's heat to the principals of Catholic Social Teaching negotiate a local organizing agreement with it's RNs. Read the letter.

Feb 24, 2010 - Sisters of Charity Health System - Saint John's parent corporation - violates RNs rights to a fair election in union organizing campaign at Saint Vincent Healthcare in Billings Montana. Weeks later, the Federal government files Unfair Labor Practice charges against Saint Vincent's as Saint John's goes on trial for similar violations (see below). Read the Billings Gazette article about the charges in Montana.

Feb 26, 2010 - Santa Monica Daily Press reveals that the City of Santa Monica has not reviewed Saint John's compliance with it's Development Agreement, as required annually by law, for "years." Read the SM Daily Press article.

An Open Letter from 30-year Saint John's Labor and Delivery RN Lori Hammond

Lori's Story

My name is Lori Hammond, and I've been a registered nurse in Labor and Delivery at Saint John's for 30 years.

As you can see from this picture, I've wanted to be a nurse since I was a little girl.

Growing up, two of my neighbors and a dear family friend were nurses in the Saint John's ICU.

I always looked up to them for choosing a career in caring, and I respected them as working mothers.

I knew I wanted to be like them.

I'm proud of my service to my hospital and my community.

But our community hospital has changed, and nurses don't get the support nd respect we deserve.

We've voiced specific concerns about nurse-to-patient ratios and other safety issues, but management refuses to listen.

When it comes to the safety of our patients, we aren't taking "no" for an answer.

That's why my colleagues and I are organizing to form a union with the California Nurses Association. We want a bright future for the nurses and patients at Saint John's.

We have wonderful, inspiring, caring nurses at Saint John's, and I am proud to be a Saint John's nurse.

I want to continue the legacy of my role models by helping my hospital to be the kind of workplace where our new nurses will want to stay and continue their careers, just like I have. Our future depends on this.

Please join us and support our campaign.

Lori Hammond, RN