Uploaded: Tuesday, June 7, 2000 10 AM

Stanford nurses go on strike

Shortly after 7 a.m. today, night shift nurses walked out of the main entrance to Stanford Hospital to the cheers and applause of hundreds of other nurses.

After negotiating until 12:40 a.m., contract talks ended for now, and about 1,730 nurses at Stanford and Lucile Packard Children's hospitals went on strike.

The two sides are far apart on salary proposals, with the union asking for 21.5 percent in pay raises over two years and the hospitals offering 8 percent.

The hospitals have hired replacement nurses from a Denver-based nursing agency, U.S. Nursing Corp.

Inside the hospital, physicians and administrators could be seen huddling in both Stanford and Packard hospitals, making arrangements to continue with hospital operations. Information tables for replacement nurses were set up in the main hospital's first-floor cafeteria.

There was no immediate word when negotiations will resume between the hospitals and the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement, the nurses' union.

This is the second strike by CRONA. The first was in 1974 and lasted for several days.

Health care benefits and staffing issues, along with salary, also are being negotiated.

--Don Kazak