April 18th, 2012
S.F. hospital deal could raise health care costs
John Coté
Monday, April 16, 2012, SF Chronicle
There is growing concern among some city leaders that a controversial deal Mayor Ed Lee has struck with California Pacific Medical Center to build a 555-bed hospital on Cathedral Hill will undermine San Francisco’s efforts to control health care costs.
While the mayor has lauded the complex, 229-page agreement as a jobs generator that will bring the city’s hospital network into the 21st century, the deal has raised concerns about how much of the $2.5 billion construction project will be passed on to consumers. The project would overhaul the Sutter Health affiliate’s medical facilities across the city and build two hospitals that meet state seismic safety mandates.
[…]
Increases could also combine with other factors to make the medical center a dominant provider in San Francisco with the power to increasingly dictate prices, warned Paul Kumar, a policy consultant to the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents roughly 750 medical center employees. His group opposes the current deal.
April 13th, 2012
An NUHW Rank-and-File Hero Retires
Marilyn Benson worked as a Licensed Vocational Nurse at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital for 37 years. She was elected Chief Shop Steward, and served as an elected member of the Executive Board with Local 250 and UHW. As a rank-and-file leader, Marilyn experienced the turmoil of two separate trusteeships, and became a founding member of NUHW. […]
April 12th, 2012
We ratified contracts with raises and no concessions
This week, with more than 50% of the members covered by the agreements casting ballots, we voted overwhelmingly to ratify NUHW contracts at Keck Medical Center at USC and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. NUHW is on a roll! In both cases, we won three years of raises with no concessions on health or retirement benefits. […]
April 5th, 2012
Huge contract victories for NUHW
April kicked off with a string of huge contract victories for healthcare workers in NUHW…and we’re stoked! At Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, after a nine-year struggle to organize a union and win a fair contract, we reached agreement for a great contract on Tuesday. Our tentative agreement, reached after 11 months of bargaining, includes across-the-board […]
April 5th, 2012
After 9-year Struggle, Santa Rosa Memorial Caregivers Reach Contract Settlement
Santa Rosa, California – On Tuesday night, workers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital (SRMH) reached a tentative agreement with management for a union contract with across-the-board wage increases, improved retirement benefits, seniority rights, just cause rights, employment security protections, representation rights, and other workplace protections and improvements. The agreement caps a nine-year effort by Santa […]