Garden Grove Hospital Workers Vote To Join Service Employees International Union
Workers at Tenet Healthcare-operated Garden Grove Hospital in Orange County on Friday voted to join the Service Employees International Union, the Orange County Register reports (Johansson, Orange County Register, 1/20). Under terms of an agreement reached last year between SEIU and Tenet, SEIU members will receive a 29% wage increase over the next four years. The three-year agreement provides wage increases of 8% in the first year and 7% in each of the next two or three years to workers represented by SEIU, in addition to hospital workers represented by the American Federation of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees. The nurses represented by the two unions cannot strike over the three-year period of the agreement (California Healthline, 5/5/03). In the election, 156 hospital workers voted to join SEIU, and 25 voted against joining the union. About 300 licensed vocational nurses, office personnel, pharmacists, nursing assistants and other hospital workers were eligible to vote in the election. The vote was part of a drive to unionize 30 of Tenet's 40 California hospitals. Other Tenet hospitals will hold elections during coming months, including a February vote at the Tenet facility in Los Alamitos. SEIU was the only union included on the ballot (Orange County Register, 1/20).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.