As SPNN Affiliate Officers and members of the Contract Action Team (CAT), we must send Sharp HealthCare a strong message about the dire need to address nurse shortages in our 2022 contract negotiations. We need to spark significant discussions and meaningful proposals at the table. Fill out the form below to add your voice to our collective call to action. The DEADLINE for completing this form is Thursday, August 4 at NOON.
By signing this electronic form, I consent to the use of my name and work location as a signatory to this letter:
Re: Registered Nurses’ Contract Negotiations
Chris Howard, CEO
Sharp HealthCare
8695 Spectrum Center Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Re: Sharp Professional Nurses Network 2022 Contract Bargaining
Dear Mr. Howard,
We, the Sharp Professional Nurses Network Officers and registered nurse leaders, are currently negotiating a new contract with the organization, and we need an agreement that addresses both patient care and the needs of frontline nurses.
We ask you to respect the 5,000 registered nurses at Sharp. The best way forward is to agree to a new contract that addresses significant staffing shortages by substantially improving our compensation, benefits, and contractual standards, as well as respecting our voice as patient care advocates.
Working through the past two years of the COVID pandemic has pushed us beyond our limits as individuals and as a community of nurses. We have been challenged like never before. To care for our patients and support our families, we have made sacrifices to work through the unknown and push past our fears. We are making extra sacrifices just to remain at Sharp.
Six years ago, we warned Sharp that failure to improve our contract in lasting and meaningful ways would hasten the exodus of experienced, dedicated nurses. Despite being the largest provider in San Diego County, Sharp HealthCare has fallen far behind nurse compensation standards for major systems in the area.
Sharp’s nurse retention issue has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Too many skilled nurses continue to leave us, taking their experience to other hospitals that provide higher wages, enhanced retirement, better benefits, and superior working conditions.
Turnover rates are high: More than half of the registered nurses have less than seven years of nursing experience at Sharp. As COVID cases spike again in San Diego, it is unfair to subject us to the anguish of trying to give the best care while we battle exposure risk and chronic understaffing.
We are still here at Sharp because we believe that together we can improve care. Yes, we, too, envision a better future at Sharp.
We all deserve raises, contractual standards, and working conditions that will retain us. This is what real progress at the bargaining table would look like.
Sincerely,
The SPNN (Sharp Professional Nurses Network) Officers and Contract Action Team
United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals