In an apparent attempt to deflect attention from their inability to secure a contract after 3 years of negotiations, the CNA accused Sutter Health and their San Francisco hospitals of discrimination. The union made claims in a press conference that the hospital had placed a quota on hiring Filipino nursing staff. Management countered with an effective rebuttal of the accusations, and charged the CNA with trying to cover up their failure to come to a contract. “We pride ourselves on our diverse hiring policies and our longstanding commitment to promoting equal opportunity employment,” said Dr. Warren Browner, CEO of California Pacific Medical Center. “The allegations of discrimination made by the California Nurses Association (CNA) are dishonest and without merit.”
“The claims made by the California Nurses Association are ridiculous” said Dr. Browner. “In 2007, 63% of our nurses at St. Luke’s were Asian. Today that number is 66%. We do not have any way of identifying what percentage of our nurses are Filipino because we don’t break down these categories by ethnicity or country of origin. In fact, the only data we have on ethnicity are self-reported by our employees using categories approved by the Federal government such as Asian, Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American or White (non-Hispanic)”
“I have worked at St. Luke’s for 19 years and no one has ever told me not to hire Filipino nurses,” says nurse Emilia Maninang, RN, Clinical Nurse Manager. “I’m Filipino and if I had heard anyone say that I would’ve been appalled. I think the claims are part of CNA’s agenda to try and make CPMC look bad.”
