Samaritan employees represented by 1199 SEIU vote down a contract
TIMES STAFF WRITER
About 230 licensed practical nurses and technicians at Samaritan Medical Center remain without a new contract after voting down a proposal Thursday.
Although she didn’t provide exact figures, Tracy L. Tupper, Service Employees International Union Local 1199 representative, said that “90 percent of the vote was a ‘no’ vote.”
“Samaritan is doing really well financially,” she said when reached by telephone Friday. “They’re expanding and their workers feel they aren’t doing enough for the direct-care workers.”
One employee, Ms. Tupper said, alleged his or her premium was to increase by 23 percent, something Samaritan spokeswoman Krista A. Kittle refuted.
“All of our premiums indicate between 8 and 13 percent,” she said. “That’s the plan only about 300 people have here. The majority of people have the Choice Plan.”
According to a news release issued Friday by Samaritan, hospital staff who choose the Choice Plan pay 20 percent of their health care cost, while Samaritan pays the remaining 80 percent. Staff also have the option to buy a premium plan, where they’d pay the difference. According to the release, the premium costs will increase by 2 percent for the Choice Plan and between 8 percent and 13 percent for the premium plan, depending on coverage, for 2012.
In the release, Ms. Kittle said Samaritan was disappointed with the ratification vote, which the hospital deemed to be fair. The contract would have included a 1.75 percent wage increase per year for the next three years, retroactive to May 1. Other highlights were increases in shift differentials for evening and night shifts and the addition of a perfect attendance bonus.
“When folks are getting a significant increase in health insurance, what management was offering wasn’t going to work,” said Kathleen M. Tucker, vice president of the union.
Ms. Tupper said the high cost of health care was the sticking point to the contract, and both parties will continue to use a federal mediator to get back to the bargaining table.
