Workers rally at Doctors Medical Center

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/41828.html

By KEN CARLSON
[e-mail]

More than 10 months of contract talks between a union and Tenet Healthcare Corp. boiled over onto the sidewalks Monday outside Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, as the labor group demanded a fair contract for hospital workers at DMC and 13 other Tenet hospitals in California.

Members of the Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers-West marched adjacent to the Florida Avenue hospital, blaming the prolonged negotiations on Tenet and charging that the company's cost-cutting was having a negative effect on patient care.



Protesters outside Doctors Medical Center on Monday morning decry what they call a staffing shortage and a lack of equipment to treat patients.
MARTY BICEK/THE BEE


The union represents about 700 employees at DMC, as well as workers at Doctors Hospital of Manteca and a total of 7,000 employees at 14 Tenet hospitals in California who unionized in a master agreement in 2003. Among the covered employees are respiratory therapists, nursing assistants, licensed vocational nurses, lab workers and clerical staff.

The SEIU and Tenet started negotiations on a new contract for the national chain's 14 hospitals about three months before the Dec. 31 expiration of the initial contract.

During Monday's 90-minute rally, the union cited a survey of hospital workers at 11 Tenet hospitals. According to the union, almost 30 percent of employees who responded said their hospital department was understaffed on a weekly basis.

One-fourth said that, due to the short staffing, they were unable to answer patient calls for assistance in a timely manner. Employees also reported delays in bathing and feeding patients, giving medications to patients and filling physician orders for treatments.

FULL story at link.