More than 4,000 hospital workers plan to walk off job for a day

SAN FRANCISCO - Dissatisfied with what they call ''dangerous'' staffing levels, some 4,000 workers at 10 Bay Area hospitals are planning to walk off the job July 6.

Licensed vocational nurses, X-ray and operating room technicians, as well as food service and janitorial employees are planning to participate in the one-day strike.

The employees work primarily for Catholic Healthcare West and Sutter Health, which run hospitals throughout the Bay Area.

Harry Joel, the regional vice president for human resources at CHW called the one-day strike irresponsible and said it would create a health care crisis in the Bay Area. Joel noted that the workers are planning the strike, but that negotiations are not yet finished.

Hospital employees want the hospitals to hire more workers and reduce their workloads.

The hospitals may bring in temporary workers, but CHW hospitals plan to postpone all elective surgeries beginning July 1 and have limited emergency room care the day of the strike.

The affected hospitals include Seton Medical Center, Daly City, Calif.; Children's Hospital Oakland; Alta Bates Medical Center and Summit Medical Center, both in Oakland; Alameda Hospital, Alameda; St. Mary's Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center, both in San Francisco; Eden Medical Center, Castro Valley; Sutter Hospital Lakeside, Lakeport; Sutter Solano Hospital, Vallejo.