The occasion marks the second 24-hour strike this year among workers represented by SEIU United Healthcare Workers who have been without contract since May.
Similar to the strike in August, workers protested “management’s refusal to bargain in good faith,” said Blinker Wood, UHW spokesman.
 Seton Medical Center Coastside workers and United Healthcare Workers Union members picket outside the hospital in Moss Beach. |
“We’re not getting anywhere on negotiations. They don’t want union members to have any voice in staffing or patient care,” said Nancy Messer, a nurse at Seton Coastside and member of the union’s bargaining team.
Workers alerted management of their plan to strike on Oct. 17. To prepare, management recruited 60 replacement workers to fill in temporarily for the 55 workers who went on strike Thursday, all of them “are fully qualified licensed individuals,” said Linde Cheema, Seton Coastside vice president of human resources.
“The vast majority of them were at the Seton Coastside strike in August,” she said. “They’re pretty familiar with the patients in the hospital.”
Cheema said the hospital functioned “smoothly – business as always” on Thursday and registered no complaints from patients or visitors. Workers outside held the picket lines tightly until they disbanded at 6 p.m.
Health insurance benefits, wages, employee security and input on patient care are among the top priorities for employees who halted work for the day to give management pause to reconsider terms of negotiation at the bargaining table. But the attempt hasn’t rendered desired results for workers, according to John Borsos, UHW administrative vice president.
“They still have significant takeaways on the table including one on health insurance,” he said. “The caregivers are doing everything they can to reach an agreement, and there really has not been the focus or attention or level of seriousness (on the part of management) and that’s what precipitated the second strike.”
Management at Daughters of Charity has offered workers a 3 percent annual pay increase during a four-year period, but union members say its come with a hefty tax on their health insurance. Neither side seems willing to budge on the big issues, putting negotiations in stalemate.
“The union just refuses to recognize the fact that the downturn of the economy has impacted health care tremendously,” Cheema said. “It’s very frustrating for us as a nonprofit. Our pockets are not deep. We value our employees tremendously but we also want to make sure we keep the doors of our hospital open.”
No further bargaining sessions had been scheduled as of Monday.
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