LAKEPORT — Union employees at Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport are planning to join their counterparts throughout Northern California in a one-day picket outside the hospital Wednesday to protest a lack of progress in contract negotiations.
Approximately 150 Sutter Lakeside employees will hold an informational picket outside the hospital to raise awareness about stalled contract talks at sister hospitals in Antioch and Vallejo, according to Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) Community Political Organizer Jim Araby. Workers are expected to picket between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
“We believe the picket has nothing to do with the issues we”re discussing locally,” Sutter Lakeside Hospital spokesman Mitch Proaps said Monday.
Araby said union members at Sutter Lakeside would be able to best explain their reasons for picketing. No Sutter Lakeside employees were available for comment by press time Monday.
Proaps said the hospital”s contract with its union workers expired June 30 and was extended to Sept. 30. Proaps said he is unaware if either side has asked for another extension. He said it is “not uncommon” for a month to pass before a contract is renewed.
“They (SEIU-UHW) presented a final group of proposals to the hospital in early October, and we are in the process of developing a comprehensive response to those proposals. We have a bargaining session scheduled in early November,” Proaps said.
Contracts between SEIU-UHW and 13 hospitals throughout Northern California ? including three owned by Sutter Health ? are six months overdue for renewal, according to Araby. Union members at three Alta Bates/Summit Medical Center sites in Oakland and Berkeley, Sutter Solano Medical Center and Sutter Delta Medical Center are planning a one-day strike on Wednesday that is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. and continue all day, according to Araby.
“Every time our contracts expire with Sutter Health, we see the same problem. The community and the workers are dragged through this wrenching process. We would like to have a much better working relationship with Sutter,” Araby said.
One issue is how staffing levels affect working environments at the protesting hospitals, according to Araby. He said the union wants to negotiate a contract similar to those in place at Kaiser Permanente and Catholic Healthcare West, where he said workers and employers settle without protests.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636 ext. 37.
