Enloe Caregivers Announce Feb. 7 Strike Date Due to Management's Refusal to Negotiate

Enloe's refusal to bargain violates federal order and jeopardizes patient care.

Chico–At Noon today members of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West gave formal notice of their plans to strike Enloe Medical Center beginning 6:30AM, February 7.

On Tuesday, service workers at Enloe voted to issue notice of a 24-hour “Unfair Labor Practices Strike” should management continue its refusal to negotiate over conditions of employment, including looming layoffs and employees' proposals aimed at improving patient care.

The decision to give formal strike notice comes as Enloe executives refused to respond to renewed requests for bargaining, following Tuesday's strike vote.

“The morale at the hospital couldn't be lower,” said Nancy Hansen, Unit Secretary. “After nearly three years, Enloe is still spending patient-care dollars to fight its own employees. Management is driving the hospital into the ground by not consulting with frontline caregivers. Their refusal to discuss alternatives to the layoff was the last straw. We need to make some positive changes.”

Bev Ericson, Enloe Sterile Processing Tech, described management's recent public claims that the cuts in staffing would actually improve care as, “Ridiculous.”

Recently Enloe announced plans to layoff 179 employees but refused to bargain over alternatives. Management's refusal to negotiate is a direct violation of a federal order mandating that Enloe bargain with SEIU. In 2004, hospital executives appealed to the National Labor Relations Board after a majority of workers in the 600-person Service Unit voted to join SEIU. The board's highest panel, appointed by President Bush, ordered management to bargain with the Union. When management subsequently refused to do so, the board issued a complaint against Enloe for refusing to comply with the federal order.

Caregivers point to management's layoff announcement as just another misstep in a series of problematic actions that ultimately hurt patient care including:

• Management's mistreatment of physicians, which led to the loss of many doctors including anesthesiologists.
• An unnecessary increase in financing costs for the planned hospital expansion resulting from management's poor handling of community concerns.
• Hundreds of thousands of patient-care dollars diverted to attorneys fees to fight caregivers' decision to unionize.
• Refusal to consult frontline caregivers on best practices for patient care.