This is what it means to stand up for workers
We joined NUHW to hold dishonest employers like Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital accountable. I’m proud to say that that’s exactly what we’re achieving.
Last year, after we settled a contract with SVMH that included no takeaways and secured our defined benefit pension and employer-paid healthcare coverage, management did something so shady we could hardly believe it: they pretended that the across-the-board raises we’d agreed to automatically ended for each worker upon his or her next step increase on the wage scale.
That would have taken a huge chunk out of our wages, and it would have resulted in workers with the same seniority in the same positions getting paid differently.
We knew SVMH managers were just trying to lie their way into a nice payout for the hospital. So we took them to arbitration.
Just a few days ago, we won our case with the arbitrator. Now, SVMH is obligated to pay us the raises we negotiated, with back pay and interest.
This isn’t the only example of the unscrupulousness of SVMH administrators. In fact, the hospital’s former CEO was just fined $5,000 for violating California’s laws governing conflicts of interest by public officials.
With such unethical employers to contend with, we’re glad we have a principled union that won’t stop fighting for what workers deserve. We’re proud to belong to NUHW.
Sincerely,
Esther Fierros-Nuñez, Patient Financial Services, Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital
National Union of Healthcare Workers – California Nurses Association