California Nurses Say Strike Champions Patients Over Profits

At the hospital in Long Beach, an estimated 30 percent of nurses crossed the picket line to serve their patients, especially in areas like pediatric cancer care and the emergency room, said Susan Melvin, the associate chief medical officer, in a phone interview.

Evan Westrup, a spokesman for Governor Jerry Brown, said he had no comment on the nurses’ strike. Spokesmen for state Assembly Speaker John Perez, a Los Angeles Democrat, and Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, didn’t return calls or declined to comment on the work stoppage.