Mountain View Hospital Union Members Reject Management Contract Offer, Ask for Better Health Benefits
Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 715 at Mountain View-based El Camino Hospital on Tuesday voted by a margin of 95% to 5% to reject a contract offer proposed by hospital management, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The contract offer included a 4.5% pay increase in the first year and a 4% increase in the second year, according to Evelyn Middleton, a dietitian who is a member of the union's negotiating team. Middleton said the contract offer was rejected because union members "want decent health care and retirement benefits to bring us in line with other hospitals in the area" (Kwan, San Jose Mercury News, 6/25). Union representatives last week said that the contract proposal would require employees to pay for health care premium cost increases that could total $2,000 to $3,000 annually. The current contract expired Saturday (California Healthline, 6/19). Hospital spokesperson Judy Twitchell has said that the hospital would face high costs if it were to continue to pay for increasing health insurance premiums for employees. Union members currently are working without a contract; union leaders said that a strike is not imminent, the Mercury News reports (San Jose Mercury News, 6/25).
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