BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From San Francisco, now, a very different story in health care. Some 4,000 employees headed back to work today, after a one-day strike. Our bureau chief in San Francisco, Greg Lefevre, with more now on the walkout.</s>GREG LEFEVRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the classic economic squeeze. Hospitals say managed care insurance companies and Medicare rules are forcing them to hold down costs, but the union workers say hospital managers have slashed costs to the point where patients don't have enough people on the floors taking care of them. The union demands that it be in on the decisions about how many workers get assigned to what jobs.</s>SAL ROSSELLI, UNION REPRESENTATIVE: It is health care workers, the people that provide the care, wanting a voice with the accountants and the CEOs to determine on the staffing that is needs.</s>LEFEVRE: The hospital calls that a demand for lifetime employment.</s>BILL GLEESON, SUTTER HEALTH SPOKESMAN: The message that Local 250 is sending is that lifetime job guarantees are more important than the health and safety of the patients that they are supposed to be protecting today.</s>LEFEVRE: This one-day walkout effects a total of 10 northern California hospitals, six of them are here in the Oakland area, the rest stretching from San Francisco north to wine country. The union gave 10 day's notice. The hospitals say they have canceled or rescheduled surgeries. Both sides have waged heavy media campaigns to win public support. Doctors and registered nurses are still on the job, though some nurses have threatened to honor the picket line. This strike is in addition to a month-long walkout south of here at Stanford Medical Center at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, and a mass resignation of five hospital workers in another Oakland hospital. (on camera): The union says, if it does not get its way, it will try some more drastic steps in the weeks ahead. Not a good day to be sick in the Bay area. Greg Lefevre, CNN, Oakland, California.
Bay-Area Hospital Workers Return to Work After One-Day Walkout