Ebola has pushed these nurses to the brink.
Roughly 18,000 health care workers in Northern California are fed up with the equipment and standards they work with in fighting the Ebola virus and are planning a two-day strike starting on Nov. 11, Bloomberg reported.
Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Oakland, Calif. would be affected. Charles Idelson, a spokesman for National Nurses United, said 21 hospitals and 65 clinics would see walk-outs. The union's contract with Kaiser expired in August.
"Kaiser continued to stonewall on dozens of proposals to improve patient care standards, as well as refusing to address the concern of Kaiser RNs about Ebola safety protocols and protective equipment, refusing to even answer questions by the RNs," The union said in a statement on Nov. 6.
The controversy follows the two nurses in Dallas - Nina Pham and Amber Vinson - who became infected after treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.
Other upcoming strikes, including 800 health care workers in two Northern California hospitals that are not owned by Kaiser, are happening on Nov. 11.
Kaiser hospitals in the San Francisco bay area will remain open, however, despite a strike that's expected to happen from 7 a.m. Tuesday through 6:59 p.m. Thursday, San Francisco Gate reported.
"Our infectious disease experts have fully reviewed the new CDC recommendations, and Kaiser Permanente is augmenting our personal protective equipment to meet or exceed these national standards," said Stephen Parodi, an infectious disease specialist and director of Kaiser's hospital operations in Northern California, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
