1-day strike set for today at St. John
Thursday, October 14, 2004 7:34 AM PDT
By Venice Buhain
Printable version
E-mail this articleWith no further contract talks scheduled, service workers at St. John Medical Center were posied to go on the first-ever strike against St. John Medical Center at 6 this morning.
The 24-hour walkout is slated to end at 6 a.m. Friday.
PeaceHealth officials said Wednesday that they will keep the hospital operating in the absence of certified nursing assistants, housekeepers, food service workers, laboratory assistants, physician assistants, unit secretaries and other employees.
"We have workers in place to provide safe patient care," said Scott Laubisch, PeaceHealth's regional vice president for public affairs.
Managers and employees from other PeaceHealth hospitals in the region will fill in for the striking workers, said Cal Lantz, vice president for professional services.
The 400 workers are represented by the Service Employees International Union, Local 49, and make up about a quarter of the hospital's staff of 1,600. The workers from $9.66 an hour to $16.14 an hour, making an average base wage of $11.71.
Nurses and maintenance staff are not represented by SEIU and are scheduled to work, according to SEIU and hospital officials.
Both sides said no one attempted to reopen talks between the end of last Thursday's negotiation session and this morning's walkout. No talks or further walkouts are scheduled.
"We sort of hit a wall," said SEIU spokeswoman Lynn-Marie Crider.
She said union members believe a walkout will the workers are unified in their demands for better health insurance for dependents and part-time workers, higher pay and increased protections against mandatory overtime.
"This is a matter of principle."
Lantz told reporters the hospital is waiting for the union to make the next offer and reopen negotiations.
"We felt we had moved toward resolution, until the strike vote," Lantz said. "From there, we felt we made a proposal and we didn't feel it was being returned."
Both sides are taking their case directly to the public. In an advertisement in Wednesday's Daily News, the union featured a hospital worker who lamented her lack of hospital-provided health coverage. The hospital planned to counter with an ad of its own in today's edition and also planned spots on local radio stations.
SEIU planned rallies at noon and 6 p.m. in front of the hospital.
for a breakout
The latest offers were:
• St. John offered of 3.25 percent pay hike in the first year and 3 percent in each of the next two years. SEIU wants a 5.25 percent raise in the first year and 5 percent raises in the next two.
• Both sides propose paying full medical and dental premiums for full-time employees. St. John offered to pay 60 percent of new increases in health insurance costs for part-time employees and employees' dependents. SEIU wants the hospital to pay 60 percent of the entire premium for that group.
• An expansion of "rest between shifts" policies to find alternatives to scheduling workers with fewer than 10 hours of rest between shifts. SEIU wants workers to earn time and a half for shifts that come with less than 10 hours' rest.
St. John's latest proposal expires at 6 a.m. today, officials said, and the terms revert to a previous offer.
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