Members at Seton ratify one-year contract
NUHW members at Seton Medical Center and Seton Coastside have ratified a one-year contract with the hospital that prevents severe cuts sought by the hospital’s new owner.
AHMC purchased Seton in bankruptcy court shortly after both hospitals were nearly shuttered.
The new owner immediately sought takeaways from workers, but NUHW members held together and achieved their primary objectives, including:
- Maintaining the same health benefits, including a free EPO option.
- Maintaining the PTO accrual rates and shift differentials they had under the previous owner.
- A continued ban on subcontracting.
- Workers also stopped AHMC’s attempt to eliminate all of the Extended Sick
- Leave they had accrued while employed at the hospital. The contract set up a formula for workers to retain portions of the extended sick leave bank, based on their years of service.
“We saved our subcontracting protections and fought to carry over more extended sick leave than AHMC initially wanted to provide,” said Dee Ann Doody, a switchboard operator. “This is our first contract with AHMC. In the coming year, we will come back to the bargaining table to fight for better retirement benefits and fair wage increases.”