After a 10-day strike, almost 4000 nurses returned to work yesterday at the Sutter Health hospitals. This is the 3rd action taken in the past 6 months, the first two unfolding on a two-day period. 

According to The San Jose Mercury News, among the affected hospitals were San Leandro Hospital, Alta Bates-Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley and Sutter Delta in Antioch. Also affected were St. Luke's Hospital and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame and San Mateo and Sutter Solano in Vallejo.

The strike started on March 21, nurses demanding better health and retirement benefits, the solving of understaffing problems and the closing of hospitals in medically underserved areas. 

“We would much rather be in there taking care of our patients. We're striking for patient care, for proper staffing language according to the law. We want adequate break relief, we would like lift-teams 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, not just 9 to 5 Monday through Friday." said Ilene Prendeville, a registered nurse at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, as quoted by CBS5.

Even though hospital officials declared that the number of nurses participating was much smaller and that it was a pointless operation considering the $140,000 annual salary, free health care and increased retirement benefits stated in their present contracts, negotiations have already started between union leaders and hospital representatives in order to prevent such incidents from taking place in the near future.