• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

300 Hospital Workers Enter 2nd Day of Strike at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley; Rally at Noon

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 12:01 CST

CASTRO VALLEY, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, 300 hospital workers represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (UHW) will begin their 2nd day of a week-long strike at Eden Medical Center. Eden Medical Center has engaged in unfair labor practices, such as bad faith bargaining, throughout contract negotiations. UHW members at Eden, who work as Licensed Vocational Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, Operating Room Technicians, Clerical Staff, and other hospital classifications, are fighting for the same patient care standards recently negotiated at five other Sutter-owned hospitals in the Bay Area.

The key standards sought by UHW caregivers at Eden Medical Center include a real voice for caregivers in staffing levels, an employee education fund, and the right for other hospital workers to join a union without harassment or intimidation by management. All of these standards have been adopted by Sutter-owned Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Sutter Solano Medical Center, Sutter Delta Medical Center, California Pacific Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital. Caregivers at Eden Medical Center are also fighting for wage increases to match other Sutter affiliates in Alameda County.

At the last bargaining session on February 22nd, hospital management arrived unprepared without any written proposals for settlement and bargained in bad faith. Management suggested an "all or nothing" package proposal that would undermine the workplace rights and patient care standards recently negotiated at other Sutter hospitals.

150 members of the UHW Service Bargaining Unit at Eden Medical Center have been working without a contract since their last one expired on June 30, 2004. The unsettled contract will be the first for 150 members of the UHW Clerical Bargaining Unit.

SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, with more than 140,000 members, is the largest and most powerful healthcare union in the Western U.S. We represent every type of healthcare worker, including nursing, professional, technical and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high quality healthcare for all.

Contact: Thea Lavin c. 510-520-7732

SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West

CONTACT: Thea Lavin of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West,c. +1-510-520-7732

Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/

Source: PRNewswire

More News in this Category