AHMC Seton nurses are concerned employer’s behavior will undermine recruitment and retention, safe staffing

Seton Medical Center (Seton) nurses in Daly City, Calif. will hold an informational picket on Dec. 12, 2023 to protest their employer’s drastic health care cuts, among other actions, that could exacerbate the hospital’s persistent recruitment and retention issues, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

Seton’s owner – AHMC Healthcare, which is based in Alhambra, Calif. – has rushed the implementation of a new medical plan that is vastly inferior to the benefits Seton nurses currently enjoy.

“Taking away health care benefits from nurses is an attack on the health and wellbeing of nurses and our families,” said Sharif Adam, RN in the emergency department. “Nurses need to be able to take care of ourselves in order to provide quality care to our patients.”

In addition to high co-pays for services that were previously covered at no cost, the new plan severely limits access to pediatric and OB-GYN services. Nurses are also concerned that it removes 60 percent of the physicians who had previously been included under their plan, and offers only a select number of hospitals that are a considerable distance away – threatening nurses’ own timely care.

• Who: Registered nurses at AHMC Seton Medical Center
• What: Informational picket to protest health care cuts
• When: Tuesday, Dec. 12, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
• Where: AHMC Seton, 1900 Sullivan Ave, Daly City, CA 94015 | at corner entrance of hospital on Sullivan Ave.

“Seton’s behavior is disrespectful to nurses and, ultimately, the community we serve,” said Michelle Kubota, RN in the medical-surgical unit. “As nurses at Daly City’s only community hospital, we care for patients who otherwise may not have access to health care services. I’m worried that if Seton continues this behavior, nurses will choose to work elsewhere, undermining the hospital’s capacity to provide quality care for our patients.”

The National Labor Relations Board filed an official complaint against AHMC in November 2023, after finding that the hospital had not complied with wage increases it agreed to. California Nurses Association represents approximately 250 nurses at AHMC Seton.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and nearly 225,000 RNs nationwide.