On Thursday, Mt. Diablo Hospital Caregivers to Tell Health District Board: 'Our Employer is Trying to Turn Back the Clock on Worker's Rights!'
Posted on: Wednesday, 11 January 2006, 21:00 CST
CONCORD, Calif., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The following release is being issued by SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West:
In 1905 coal miners were only allowed to buy from the company store. In 2005, hospital workers shouldn't have to.
The executives of John Muir Health, which owns Mt. Diablo Medical Center, are trying to force a healthcare plan on Mt. Diablo caregivers that eliminates their choices for hospital based care. Over 400 Mt. Diablo caregivers who are represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West have been bargaining for a fair contract with their hospital employer since last October. A major sticking point is the hospital's proposed healthcare plan, which would force caregivers to visit only Mt. Diablo or a John Muir affiliate for hospital based care.
"If I needed pediatric care or other specialized hospital care for my kids, I can't bring them to any hospital other than Mt. Diablo or John Muir," said Martha Lara, a Unit Secretary at Mt. Diablo Medical Center. "As a parent, lack of choice in my family's healthcare is unacceptable. I should be free to choose which hospital I want to receive care from and not be forced to go to my employer. Every hospital has different specialties. Let's face it: John Muir and Mt. Diablo aren't experts in everything."
On November 29, UHW caregivers picketed in front of Mt. Diablo Medical Center, which is now the only health care provider in California that requires employees to exclusively seek healthcare from their place of work.
Mt. Diablo caregivers are also fighting for a contract that features safe staffing language and the right for workers to join a union without being harassed or intimidated by management. Both proposals are industry standards and already accepted by every other major hospital system in Northern California, including Kaiser, Catholic Healthcare West, and Daughters of Charity. In San Francisco, 800 hospital caregivers at California Pacific Medical Center were recently forced to strike for nine weeks for both contract standards.
In an act of good faith bargaining, SEIU UHW offered over 30 bargaining dates in January and February, as well as the intervention of a Federal Mediator. Management refused both offers in an obvious attempt to force an unnecessary strike.
What: Mt. Diablo Hospital Caregivers Fighting for Fair Contract Will Testify Before Mt. Diablo Health Care District Board Where: Mt. Diablo Medical Center 2540 East Street Concord, CA 94520 Antioch Room When: 7 p.m., Thursday, January 12 Contact: Thea Lavin c.510-520-7732
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West
CONTACT: Thea Lavin of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, cell,+1-510-520-7732
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/
Source: PRNewswire
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