(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The nurses went on a 24-hour strike outside Kaiser Permanente's Los Angeles Medical Center, asking the hospital to provide more staff to meet the patients' demands, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest health care providers in the United States.
The protesters, however, say Kaiser is not meeting the staffing ratios necessary for safe and quality care.
They have also complained about the practice of "floating" nurses to different units that demand medical expertise they do not have.
According to the protesters, emergency patients were being transferred to other Kaiser hospitals, and some surgeries were moved to other facilities due to staff shortage.
The National Union of Healthcare Workers said it organized the strike after contract talks failed to resolve the issue of staff shortage.
Hospital administrator Mark Costa, however, denied the nurses' accusations that the hospital was not meeting state standards for the number of nurses per patient.
He also said the hospital will welcome back the nurses to their jobs and that they will continue to negotiate with the nurses until they reach a fair and equitable contract.
The strike is the first major union action seen in California since the protests started in Madison, Wisconsin, more than two weeks ago.
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