CHICO, Calif., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- When: One Day Strike Begins 5:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 2 Strike Ends at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 3
Main Events: Noon Rally, 8:00 p.m. Candlelight Vigil at Main Entrance, Enloe Medical Center-Chico
On Friday, Sept. 2, at 5:30 a.m ., 120 dietary and housekeeping employees at Enloe Medical Center will hold a one-day strike against their employer, the Compass Corporation. The health care workers have been in bargaining for over a year with their employer with no contract settlement. While former Enloe patients complain about hospital-borne infections, Enloe continues to ignore the reasonable contract proposals for improving the ability to recruit and retain those staff who are responsible for infection control. Workers met with management at the bargaining table on Tuesday, August 30th, and though employees made many counterproposals and offers for movement in their contract, management was unwilling to compromise. Workers will hold a Noon Rally and an 8:00 p.m. Candlelight Vigil during their strike, where community members will join them in calling for a fair contract.
The employees work at Enloe Medical Center, but their jobs were subcontracted out by the hospital in June 2003 to two different subsidiaries of the multi-national Compass Corporation: Compass Morrison Management Specialists (dietary workers) and Compass Crothall (environmental services).
As a result of being subcontracted, employees lost shift differentials, extra pay for working on holidays, health care benefits, accrued sick leave benefits, vacation accrual rate and retirement plan. None of the workers have received a wage or cost of living adjustment in over two years, despite the fact that the CEO of Enloe (which sets the hourly rate at which Compass is reimbursed) was awarded a 47% wage increase in the last year alone.
About half of the Compass workers employees at the Medical Center have no health care coverage for themselves and their children. In fact, children of many fulltime Compass employees working at Enloe Hospital are on public assistance for health care coverage. Enloe is even garnishing the wages of some employees for emergency bills from Enloe.
The one-day strike will be held in response to numerous unfair labor practices committed by the employer including discrimination against union supporters, not bargaining in good faith and intimidation of employees for exercising their rights as union members.
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.
Media Contact:
Kathleen Miller, 510-773-7102
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West
CONTACT: Kathleen Miller of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West,+1-510-773-7102
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/
