Health Care Employees at Five San Jose-Area Hospitals Plan One-Day Strike on May 15
About 2,000 health care employees represented by Service Employees International Union Local 250 will hold a one-day strike on May 15 at five hospitals in the San Jose area "unless contract negotiations" improve, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The employees, who include technicians, licensed vocational nurses, nurse assistants and respiratory therapists, have sought a "greater say in patient care decisions" and improved wages and benefits. The five hospitals -- O'Connor Hospital, Saint Louise Regional Hospital, Regional Medical Center of San Jose, Columbia San Jose Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital -- have not had an SEIU strike for several years, the Mercury News reports. Hospital officials said they would operate emergency rooms and other services "as normally as possible." Good Samaritan plans to cancel elective surgeries and other non-emergency procedures on May 15. Regional and Columbia San Jose will perform scheduled surgeries but will not schedule new procedures (Ostrov, San Jose Mercury News, 5/8).
In related news, more than 90% of the employees at Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles last Friday voted to strike when their contracts expire on May 13, the Los Angeles Times reports. Nurses, laboratory technicians and respiratory therapists have accused the hospital of "unfair labor practices," including "retaliation" against employees who have protested the hospital's "chronic staffing shortage" (Los Angeles Times, 5/4).
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