KAISER PERMANENTE: NURSES APPROVE STRIKE ACTION

      "Registered nurses at 16 Kaiser Permanente hospitals and 35
 medical offices" in Northern California have voted to strike
 beginning April 16 "and to start mass picketing of Kaiser
 buildings next week," SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER reports.  The
 California Nurses Association (CNA) approved the action because
 Kaiser said it wanted to cut wages for some nurses, who have been
 working without a contract since January 30, and freeze wages for
 the rest (see AHL 1/10).  Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of
 the CNA, said that "they're trying to call attention to the
 horrendous decline in care standards at Kaiser, including the
 sharp reductions of nursing care and other patient services"
 (Brazil, 3/8).
      BATTLE PLANS:  SACRAMENTO BEE reports that DeMoro said the
 union is considering three strike options.  They will either
 strike at "one facility at a time on different days," walk off
 the job "for one day on a regional basis -- affecting all Kaiser
 facilities simultaneously in one city," or organize "all 7,553
 nurses to strike every unionized Kaiser facility in the area on a
 single day."  The union hopes to have a decision by April 4 so it
 can comply with state law and give Kaiser a 10-day notice before
 stopping work.  Kaiser spokesperson Kathleen McKenna said that
 even though Kaiser has not received "any notification of a
 strike," the nonprofit HMO "is making contingency plans for a
 work stoppage, such as enlisting doctors and nonunion nurses to
 fill in for striking employees" (Ferraro, 3/8).