Barring a last-minute breakthrough, 5,700 registered nurses at Sharp HealthCare will strike on Wednesday, remaining on picket lines through Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, not returning to their jobs until 7 a.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n
Workers plan to demonstrate in front of Sharp\u2019s three main medical campuses in San Diego, La Mesa and Chula Vista, listing \u201csafe staffing, fair sick policy and reasonable wages\u201d as the three reasons why it is necessary to walk off shifts on what their union noted in a statement Monday is \u201cone of the busiest weeks of the year for hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their contract expired on Sept. 30. Sharp nurses said in a statement released by the United Nurses Associations of California\/Union of Health Care Professionals that they are \u201cpaid below market rate and struggle to support themselves and their families in one of the most expensive cities in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Sharp, in its own statement on Nov. 14, called its proposed compensation package generous. Its nurses, Sharp said, \u201cearn more than $77 per hour on average plus benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n