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Hospital workers face a higher risk of on-the-job violence than most other workers.

And in many cases, it comes from their patients.

In response, nurses are taking the issue to the bargaining table.

Cascade PBS reporter Lizz Giordano explains.

Patients before profits, Multi-Care stop it.

When nurses and other medical workers picketed last week outside Multi-care hospitals in Seattle, Yakima and Puyallup.

They brought demands for higher pay and less expensive health care coverage, but also for stronger safety measures.

I've been spat on.

I've been kicked on, in the legs into the stomach, into my arms.

Luckily, they've missed my face.

Edna Cortez with the Washington State Nurses Association, says workplace violence is one of the biggest issues she hears about on the picket line and says it goes underreported.

A survey done by National Nurses United found 81.6% of nurses experienced workplace violence within the past year.

We didn't go into nursing to defend ourselves that way.

We went into nursing to take care, to provide care, to heal.

It just really breaks my heart when I hear, that nurses have to quit because they're afraid.

Cortez says along with setting staff ratios and contracts, some unions have also negotiated paid leave days for nurses who experience workplace violence and the installation of metal detectors.

Other unions currently in negotiations are also proposing hospitals create workplace violence plans and form safety committees.

I'm Lizz Giordano in southwest Seattle.

All this week, we're bringing you stories about unions and unionization efforts in the region.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching The Newsfeed.