Registered nurses at Alhambra Hospital Medical Center in Alhambra, Ca. will vote on January 5 whether to join the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, CNA announced today.

“We seek to join CNA/NNU to improve quality of patient care and stabilize RN staff,” said Ana Vasquez, a Telemetry RN at Alhambra. 

“We lose RNs to other hospitals and it compromises quality of care.  We need to improve retention so that RNs can provide the best possible care to the patients in our community.  We firmly believe joining CNA/NNU is the answer,” she said.

The National Labor Relations Board will supervise the secret ballot election for the 200 Alhambra RNs.

Alhambra Hospital is part of Southern California-based AHMC Healthcare.  CNA already represents the RNs at two other small AHMC hospitals, San Gabriel Valley Medical Center and Whittier Hospital Medical Center.

RNs at Alhambra are seeking wage parity with other AHMC hospitals, an increased voice in patient care conditions, and a contract that requires the hospital to comply with the state’s mandated nurse-to-patient ratio law to protect patient safety.

Hospital administrators have been stepping up actions against CNA supporters, say RNs, contributing to a pattern of actions that nurses say violate federal labor law protections.

Alhambra is the most profitable hospital in the AHMC system. Overall AHMC reported over $80 million in profits the past five years. 

The California Nurses Association represents nearly 100,000 RNs throughout the state.