CHICO, Calif., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Who: Enloe Medical Center workers, nurses and supporters When: 3:45 p.m., Wednesday, December 21 Where: Enloe Medical Center, 1531 Esplanade, Chico
In a joint press conference today, members of United Healthcare Workers - West (UHW) and the California Nurses Association (C.N.A.) at Enloe Medical Center will be presenting Dan Neumeister, COO of Enloe, a “Scrooge of the Year Award.” The award is designed to highlight the fact that many workers at Enloe earn incomes below basic poverty and self-sufficiency standards and must rely on taxpayer funded public assistance programs for their healthcare needs. It comes less than a week after the release of a white paper study co-authored by Chico State University Economics Professor David Gallo and UHW showing that Enloe Medical Center’s low wages and inadequate health insurance are having significant and harmful effects on its workers, taxpayers and the local and regional economies.
“For his unwavering pursuit of keeping full-time health care workers at poverty wages and forcing many of us to depend on public assistance for our families’ health insurance coverage, Dan Neumeister wins himself the Scrooge of the Year award,” said Barbara Garcia, a Certified Nursing Assistant at Enloe Hospital. “But what really won him this award, is that by denying us our legal right to collectively bargain with our employer over wages, benefits, and working conditions, he has consistently kept the tools away from the workers that would help lift us out of poverty.”
Workers are also angry that while top management at the hospital are paid exorbitant salaries and given top tier benefits, many Enloe caregivers have gone without raises for up to three years, and without access to affordable healthcare they often must postpone or forgo medical care. “In the best Scrooge-like fashion, while others have gone without, Dan has enjoyed consistently hefty raises bringing him close to $350,000 a year in total compensation,” said David Welch, RN of the California Nurses Association. “He has also denied us basic union rights to communicate with each other, and ignored federal labor law. He’s definitely Scrooge of the Year!”
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: Kimberly Johnson 510-773-7275
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West
CONTACT: Kimberly Johnson of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West,+1-510-773-7275
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/
