300-plus picket Management's plans to outsource jobs and slash benefits for caregivers
SEIU-UHW members came out in force at a pair of highly successful informational pickets at Sutter Delta and Sutter CPMC this week. With well over 300 people attending the pickets, a loud and clear message was sent to Sutter management that we are committed to winning a fair contract that protects jobs and provides fair wages and family healthcare.
On October 29, SEIU-UHW members and supporters came out in force at CPMC-St. Luke's in San Francisco to highlight Management's Wall-Street mindset of putting profits over hospital employees and patients.
In the second quarter of 2009 Sutter reported a net income of $281 million - a $100 million increase from the same quarter last year. Additionally, their investment income for the second quarter was $143 million, up $185 million from the same quarter last year. These impressive numbers should be good news for workers since Sutter is a not-for-profit organization that should use this income to improve - not cut - care.
And despite these profits, Sutter CPMC management seems intent on paying for its massive reconstruction project by cutting employee benefits without any guarantees of job security. Members are also concerned that these cuts are going to have an impact on quality patient care.
"For a non-profit institution, Sutter management seems all too ready to put profit over fairly treating those who dedicate themselves day in and day out to providing top quality care," said Robert Klimzcak, a unit coordinator who has worked at St. Luke's for four years. "It's time for Sutter management to remember its role in the community and its commitment to its patients and employees."
"Sutter holds itself out as both a great healthcare company and a company that takes care of its employees," Carl Lewis, a food service aide at St. Luke's said. "That they are now trying to refuse employees full employer-paid health care flies in the face of those claims."
