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SEIU UHW Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Authorize Strike at Community and Mission Hospitals of Huntington Park

Posted on: Thursday, 9 March 2006, 18:00 CST

HUNTINGTON PARK, Calif., March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Hospital employees, in a gesture of solidarity, voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if they are not paid on Friday, March 10, 2006. A delegation of employees will arrive at the Bank of America in Huntington Park to cash their checks. If their paychecks don't clear, they will strike in front of their hospitals beginning 7:00 a.m., Sunday, March 12. The hospitals failed to pay some workers the previous payday, Friday February 24, or issued checks that did not have sufficient funds to be cashed.

"As caregivers we love our jobs and the service we provide for the community," says Lisette Perez, Admitting Representative, Mission Hospital. "But how can our employer expect us to provide patient care when we are not paid on time? We don't want to strike but we have to if we can't pay our bills. Many of us might have to quit and find other jobs."

If these healthcare workers are forced move on, patient care services as well as recruitment at the Huntington Park hospitals could be negatively impacted.

Community and Mission hospitals were recently purchased by Karykeion, Inc., a privately-held corporation that includes physicians from the hospitals. Less than two months into the transfer of ownership, the new company failed to make payroll; workers were not able to access their funds for a number of days. The company has not confirmed that it would be able to cover future payroll.

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: Tadzio Garcia

213-300-8974

SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West

CONTACT: Tadzio Garcia of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West,+1-213-300-8974

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

Source: PRNewswire

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