CHW workers approve labor contract ( 33 hospitals)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/10/27/daily74.html

Friday, October 31, 2008 - 3:30 PM PDT

Sacramento Business Journal - by Chris Rauber San Francisco Business Times

Labor union United Healthcare Workers West said Friday its workers at 33 Catholic Healthcare West hospitals, including those in Greater Sacramento, have ratified a four-year contract.

Sadie Crabtree, a spokeswoman for the Oakland-based union affiliated with Service Employees International Union, said Friday that 97 percent of the local’s 14,000 members in those hospitals have voted to ratify the contract deal reached more than two weeks ago.

The pact boosts wages an average of 26 percent over four years, the union said, although some workers will see their wages jump by 35.4 percent over the same period. Greater Sacramento workers were expected to see an average increase of 28 percent. The final votes came Thursday night.

Crabtree said workers at all 33 hospitals approved the contract. The last two -- Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City and San Andreas’ Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital, completed their votes Oct. 30, she said.

“It’s significant that CHW and Kaiser -- two of the state’s largest health-care employers -- have illustrated a willingness to work constructively with their care givers,” UHW Vice President John Borsos told the San Francisco Business Times. “The path forward has been laid out,” he added, referring to the union’s belief that other major employers should agree to similar terms. Kaiser Permanente agreed to a contract reopener agreement in September, Borsos said.

UHW announced a tentative settlement with CHW on Oct. 13, calling it “a landmark master agreement with the state’s largest hospital corporation.”

San Francisco-based CHW operates 41 hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada, including the Mercy hospitals in the Sacramento area. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.

FULL story at link.