North Bay Business Journal

SANTA ROSA — Some 640 union nurses at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital said they would go on strike for a fourth time in less than a year, as the St. Joseph Health-owned hospital and the local union continue tense negotiations over unresolved labor issues.

The Staff Nurses’ Association, an independent union based in Santa Rosa, issued a statement saying the strike, planned for Thursday, May 23 at 5 a.m. and ending May 25 at 5a.m., is in response to “onerous, sub-market proposals” from Memorial. The union has been in negotiations with the 278-bed hospital since last August.

SANTA ROSA — Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) today said it would cut 2,000 jobs across the company as a result of “manufacturing consolidation efforts,” while reporting that its Cardiac and Vascular Group, which includes operations in Santa Rosa, had worldwide sales of more than $2.3 billion for an increase of 5 percent over the year.

A Medtronic spokeswoman told the Business Journal that approximately half the job cuts will take place overseas.

Unemployment rates across the North Coast continued to fall, with every county improving its jobless rate over both the last month and over the year, according to figures released by the Economic Development Department.

PETALUMA — The nonprofit organization Committee on the Shelterless, better known as COTS, today announced a shift in leadership, with Mike Johnson, the agency’s chief operating officer, assuming the role of chief executive officer.

NORTH BAY – The U.S. Department of Commerce gave final approval to an application submitted by the Port of San Francisco last October to expand its Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) No. 3 service area to include portions of Sonoma and Napa Counties, in addition to Contra Costa, Marin and Solano counties.The former service area was limited to San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

A bill recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown seeks to eliminate a two-month long delay on the state level in processing business applications. Assembly Bill 113, authored by John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, grants $2 million to the Secretary of State’s office in attempt to eliminate a backlog of 122,000 business entity filings that currently take 65 calendar days to be processed, causing businesses to wait months to hire and finalize plans, according to the California Chamber of Commerce, which supported the bill.

Share your thoughts on this week’s NBBJ Pulse Poll questions: “How will hiring 2,000 for the opening of Graton Resort & Casino in late 2013 impact the local hospitality and leisure job market?” and “What job-market aspects would be most affected by Graton Resort & Casino hiring?”

In less than a year’s time, Sonoma County will be home to the Bay Area’s largest casino, a prospect that has some people and businesses anticipating a significant economic boon to the region while others still vow to block a project in the making since 2003.

Kaiser Permanente employees in California, including about 4,700 in the North Bay, voted to stay with their current trade union, rather than switching, according to results announced Thursday afternoon by the National Labor Relations Board.

NAPA — Sixty-four percent of registered nurses at Queen of the Valley Medical Center who voted on Tuesday whether to affiliate with the California Nurses Association, an affiliate of National Nurses United, chose to do so.

NAPA — Napa Valley hosted 2.94 million visitors in 2012, generating $1.4 billion in direct tourism spending, and more than three-quarters of them come for dining and wine tasting, according to results from two studies released Thursday.

Health insurance brokers, employers and individuals are all eagerly awaiting full-scale implementation of the California Health Benefits Exchange, a centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act, but it’s still anyone’s guess as to what it will look.

While details of what the exchange, also known as Covered California, will look like have emerged recently, a key piece of just how effective it will has not yet been determined: the monthly premiums for plans that will be offered to individuals and employers.

FAIRFIELD — Partnership HealthPlan of California, a nonprofit that administers Medi-Cal benefits in six counties, said recently that it is looking to fill 100 positions over the next 12 months after expanding significantly further into Northern California.

Unemployment rates across the North Bay in March dropped several percentage points, and Sonoma County had its best year-over-year job growth in 12 years, according to state figures released this morning.

NOVATO — Registered nurses have reached a tentative contract settlement with Novato Community Hospital, A Sutter Health affiliate, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United announced today.

SAUSALITO — One year after launching its Inside Connections for job seekers on Facebook, Glassdoor is looking to innovate further.

Voting began last week in the long-running battle for union control at Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout California, with some 45,000 workers set to choose — for the second time in nearly three years — between rivals Service Employees International Union’ United Healthcare Workers West and the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Employers large and small are bracing for the full implementation of health care reform, but smaller businesses with at least 50 employees are especially anxious when it comes to a key question: do they provide benefits for full-time workers or pay a fine for each full-time worker not covered?
The employment sector could stand to benefit, particularly staffing agencies already adept at providing leaner workforces for employers in a number of industries, employment experts said.

Unemployment rates across the North Bay dropped in February, in some counties by more than a full percentage point, as the January holiday lull in hiring gave way to positive growth in a number of industries, according to preliminary state figures released Friday.

Five of the six North Bay counties added 13,900 jobs over 12 months.

Unemployment rates across the six North Bay counties ticked up in January, according to state estimates released Friday, a rise attributed to staffing reductions after the year-end holidays.

PETALUMA — A key outcome from the recent Manufacturing Trade Fair Feb. 20 was that a majority of exhibitors had jobs ready to be filled, with more on the way.