Health care workers, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital reach tentative deal

by Andy Stiny
the Californian, Jan. 17 2012

Members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) have reached a tentative agreement on a contract with the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System, the union said in a news release issued Tuesday.

The new contract would end 12 months of difficult negotiations between the two sides. The dispute included a one-day strike by union hospital workers and two-day lockout of those workers by the hospital.

The union members will hold a ratification vote Thursday and a special meeting of the hospital’s board of directors would then be called as soon as possible to approve the agreement, the news release said. Details of the agreement would then be made available.

The hospital is withholding comment until after the ratification vote, said Adrienne Laurent, SVMH director of public affairs.

Marilyn Benson, chief shop steward for the NUHW at the hospital, said it was time to put the issue to rest. “I’m glad we reached a settlement that both sides can live with,” she said.

“Basically everything stays the same,” said Benson” The agreement means “we would roll over our contract, that there would be no take-aways and there would be a modest increase (in wages),” she said.

Benson, who is 73, said she was laid off in June along with 16 other licensed vocational nurses in a reduction in hospital staff. She is now retired after working at SVMH for 37 years.

“It is our understanding the board will approve it (the agreement) on Friday,” said Benson.

Both sides praised

Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville), whose staff facilitated the negotiations, released a statement praising both sides.

“SVMH and NUHW have made terrific progress by setting aside their conflicts and settling on a contract after months of complications,” said the statement.

The NUHW represents 750 hospital employees at SVMH. Those represented include licensed vocational nurses, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, certified nursing assistants, clerical and dietary workers and housekeepers.

The union does not represent the hospital’s registered nurses, who are represented by the California Nurses Association. They reached an agreement earlier on their contract.

The NUHW workers were previously represented by Service Employees International Union but voted to switch unions in 2010, Leighton Woodhouse of the NUHW said in an e-mail. The terms and conditions of the previous contract remain in place until the new agreement is ratified, said Woodhouse.

Monterey County Herald: SVMH, workers reach tentative pact

by Larry Parsons
Montery County Herald

Union to vote Thursday on deal through August 2013

A yearlong contract dispute between about 750 service and technical workers and Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System appears to be almost over.

Both the Salinas hospital and the National Union of Healthcare Workers — the union that represents the largest number of the hospital’s workers — announced Tuesday that negotiators had reached a tentative agreement on a new contract.

Workers will vote Thursday whether to ratify the contract that would run until August 2013. Their negotiators are unanimously recommending approval of the pact.

The hospital board of directors would then decide whether to ratify the proposal. The tentative agreement was reached after a 10-hour negotiating session Monday, union officials said.

Both sides refused Tuesday to discuss details of the pending deal, saying that won’t happen until both sides approve it.

“We really don’t want to get into it,” said John Borsos, union vice president.

“The bargaining team is unanimously recommending it, and people are happy about the agreement,” Borsos said.

Union representatives credited Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, his district director, Salinas City Councilman Sergio Sanchez, and the state mediation service with helping to bring the drawn-out negotiations to the point of resolution.

“The interest and motivation from Assemblyman Alejo was pretty instrumental in this,” Borsos said.

Hospital spokeswoman Adrienne Laurent confirmed there was a tentative agreement, but withheld additional comment.

Both sides indicated relief that the lengthy dispute was nearly ended. “There was a feeling on our side and on the hospital’s side to see if now was the right time to bring it to a conclusion,” Borsos said.

The dispute was marked by a one-day strike and threats of more walkouts, and the hospital’s announcement of its “last, best and final” offer for a two-year contract with a one-year wage freeze followed by a 1.5 percent pay increase and employee contributions to health insurance premiums.

Borsos said the major hurdles during negotiations were “a number of takeaways” proposed by the hospital on wages and benefits.

The hospital workers voted to switch to the National Union of Healthcare Workers in May 2010, and the union was certified to represent the bargaining unit about five months later.

“We have been in bargaining since then,” said union spokesman Leighton Woodhouse.

The union represents a wide range of hospital employees, from clerical workers and housekeepers to technicians and nurse’s aides.

Last month, the hospital’s 600-plus registered nurses agreed to defer scheduled pay raises for a year and to make other concessions to save the hospital nearly $2 million.

Hackley Hospital medical technicians to vote on union representation

Muskegon Chronicle:

MUSKEGON – Members of the Mercy Health Partners Hackley tech unit are voting Wednesday on switching union representation from the Service Employees International Union to the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

The 92 employees who are technologists in various medical departments at Hackley Hospital such as radiology, surgery, cardiovascular and respiratory are voting on whether to switch unions or go unrepresented, union organizers said. The vote is being conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. 

Technologists at the Hackley Campus have become disillusioned with the representation of SEIU Health Care Michigan, some members say. Mercy Health Partners settled outstanding contracts with its various unions in 2011, but the Hackley tech unit remains unsettled as the representation issue is decided by union members.

Read the rest of the article in the Muskegon Chronicle.

Salinas Californian commentary: New year brings chance to resolve differences

The Salinas Californian:

By Esther Fierros-Nunez, George Ross and John Borsos

This was a tumultuous year at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Our hospital has been rocked by a change in top leadership, a high-profile conflict between frontline workers and management including a one-day strike and three-day lockout, a parade of headlines about financial improprieties by hospital executives, a financial audit by the state legislature, and a brewing controversy over the board of director’s plans to put SVMH up for sale.

As 2011 draws to a close, however, there is reason to hope that the new year will bring a change in direction for SVMH, and resolution to some of the major challenges facing the hospital.

Read the rest of the commentary at The Salinas Californian.

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Union vigil at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital

By Martin Espinoza, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Dec. 13, 2011

Employees at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital who are members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers held a candlelight vigil in front of the hospital Tuesday evening intended to rally public support for the union as it negotiates with hospital management.

Union officials say their main concerns are improving staffing levels, wages and retirement benefits. The union represents about 700 technical, service and maintenance workers at the hospital.

“It’s very hard to work with such high levels of stress,” said Josephine Obermayr, a radiology scheduler who is part of the union negotiating team. “It’s been like this since we had the huge reduction in staff about three years ago.”

The NUHW and St. Joseph Health System-Sonoma County, which runs Memorial, have been negotiating since May.

Katy Hillenmeyer, a St. Joseph spokeswoman, said Tuesday that negotiating sessions have been productive. “Patient safety and the health of our community are Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital’s primary concerns,” she said.

The Nation: Kaiser Permanente Workers Choose Sides

Read the full article in The Nation.

Steve Early

November 22, 2011

Richmond, California —In California, the Kaiser name has long been linked to innovations in work organization, personnel practices and healthcare delivery.

During World War II, industrialist Henry Kaiser built America’s largest shipyard, virtually overnight, here in the East Bay. That now-famous facility turned out scores of “Liberty” ships, using new production techniques, female welders (aka “Rosie the Riveter”) and African-Americans who had been excluded from higher-paying blue-collar jobs.

Kaiser’s wartime experimentation with a pioneering group health plan, tied to hospitals in Richmond and Oakland, paved the way for pre-paid medical coverage of millions of workers and their families. As a broader nonprofit Health Maintenance Organization, Kaiser Permanente (KP) now operates the largest network of unionized hospitals in the country and has long been known as “the HMO that labor built.” To keep the peace on its own far-flung properties, Kaiser formed a much-heralded Labor Management Partnership (LMP) with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other unions in the mid-1990s. Through their embrace of “non-adversarial” labor relations, Kaiser caregivers were supposed to gain more say in workplace decision-making so they could improve service to patients. Their unions won the right to organize non-union KP workers without management interference—a “neutrality” deal only available to LMP participants.

Read the rest of the article at The Nation.

KPBS: Survey Reveals Problems With Mental Health Care At Kaiser Permanente

Read the article at KPBS.org.

SAN DIEGO — A union-backed survey of providers at Kaiser Permanente shows widespread dissatisfaction with the HMOs’ mental health services. The union representing mental health professionals has been negotiating a new contract.

The National Union of Healthcare Workers surveyed more than 300 mental-health providers at Kaiser facilities in California. Many said they’re not given enough time to evaluate patients, and they’re not able to schedule return appointments in a timely way.

Jim Clifford has been a therapist at Kaiser’s outpatient clinic in Otay Mesa for 10 years. He said mental-health care has gotten short shrift.

“We’re trained to know what adequate care is and to provide it,” he said. “And it’s very troubling ethically to be in a position due to poor staffing not to be able to provide that. And it’s been a chronic situation at Kaiser.”

Clifford said Kaiser has refused to beef up staffing so that mental-health patients can get better care.

Kaiser did not respond to requests for an interview.

Huffington Post: Kaiser Permanente Makes Billions In Profits While Overburdening Staff

November 14, 2011

By Alexander Eichler

Read the full article at The Huffington Post.

Kaiser Permanente, one of the country’s largest health care organizations, is providing rushed and sloppy mental health treatment in California by an overburdened staff — even though the company makes billions in profits, according to a new report.

In California, where Kaiser operates dozens of hospitals and hundreds of clinics, patients seeking treatment for mental health conditions are sometimes made to wait weeks for appointments, in violation of state law, a report from National Union of Healthcare Workers finds. When they finally get to see a doctor, they often receive brief consultations that only last half as long as the the recommended minimum amount of time, according to the report. And many patients end up in group therapy settings when one-on-one sessions with a clinician would be more appropriate.

Read the rest of the article at The Huffington Post.

USA Today: Study: Calif. mental patients force to wait past limit

November 14, 2011

By Kelly Kennedy

Read the article at USA Today:

WASHINGTON – Mental health patients in California are often forced to wait for care beyond the 10-day limit required by state law, which is a troubling sign for the 2010 federal health care law’s requirement to treat mental health patients in the same way as those suffering from other ailments, a survey of providers shows.

A survey of 305 mental health providers at 57 California Kaiser Permanente facilities found that mental health patients do not receive needed care in a timely manner, that managers ask employees to “cook the books” so it appears they meet a California law for an initial appointment within 10 days, that patients are funneled into group therapy because there are not enough clinicians for one-on-one care and that clinicians do not have time to perform basic assessments.

Read the rest of the article at USA Today.

ZCommunications: California Labor Leader Supports Occupations

Read the article at ZCommunications:

October 29, 2011

Interview conducted by Cal Winslow

John Borsos is vice president of the new, independent union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). He is a well-known California labor leader, and an advocate of militant, democratic member driven unions; he was an elected vice-president of the 150,000 member United Healthcare Workers – West, until replaced in Andy Stern’s SEIU 2009 trusteeship. He was also President of the Sacramento Central Labor Council. Here he talks to Cal Winslow about Occupy Wall Street.

John, Occupy Wall Street has come to California in a big way. What is your take on the movement?

“I think it’s great. I think it’s one of those steps outside of the institutional boundaries of the labor movement - by a broader left - that will end up energizing labor.

“I was thinking about this historically, you know there have been certain times when movements have emerged spontaneously, truly grass roots, from the bottom. These are the kind of eruptions you will find if you go back, for instance, to the eighteen nineties and Jacob Coxey’s army of unemployed that marched across the Middle West; or the bonus marchers of the early 1930s, the World War I veterans who gathered in Washington, DC demanding relief, and battled General MacArthur; and, in a more organized way, perhaps, the Poor People’s marches and encampments that Martin Luther King, Jr. led in the 1960s.

“They were all somewhat tied to the labor movement but not in it. But I think that in fact they were harbingers of the more dynamic and militant labor movements that followed.

“I think the great energy of Occupy Wall Street and its manifestations across the country, including here in California, are really exciting. They call attention to the gross class disparities that really exist in this country; they do it in a way that hasn’t been done in a long time.

“Certainly they do this in a much more focused and convincing way than the mushy “fighting for the middle class” that has often been the mantra of the official labor movement in the country.”

Read the full article at ZCommunications.