Workers to picket hospital today: Capital Medical

Rolf Boone

Nov. 7, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- OLYMPIA -- Unionized workers at Capital Medical Center will stage an informational picket today to call attention to their negotiations to improve wages and benefits for about 150 employees at the hospital.

The office, housekeeping, maintenance, radiology lab and other workers are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 21, spokesman Tom Geiger said.

Unlike a strike, in which workers walk off the job -- as they did at Providence St. Peter Hospital last month -- the workers at Capital will picket before or after a shift or during a break or lunch hour, he said.

The picket is set for noon to 2 p.m. outside Capital Medical Center, at 3900 Capital Mall Blvd. S.W. About 100 workers are expected to participate, Geiger said.

At issue is improving wages and benefits as part of a new, three-year contract for the workers. The most recent contract expired in September, and more than seven bargaining sessions have been held since August, said Chuck Ardingo, lead negotiator for the union.

Some wages for positions at Capital Medical Center are below industry standards, and the health care plan is expensive for employees if it's for a service that the hospital doesn't offer and they have to go elsewhere, Ardingo said.

He acknowledged the slower economy and said the union is open to incremental wage increases over the life of the contract, wages he hopes can be based on Western Washington data rather than the data the hospital uses.

"They want to retain control of the wage analysis," Ardingo said about the hospital.

Hospital officials said in a statement Friday that they're committed to employees.

"Our negotiations with Local 21 continue next week, and we are confident that we will ultimately reach agreement on a contract that serves the interest of all parties," the statement reads.

Radiology technician Gina Arland, a member of the bargaining team, said the workers pay at a higher rate with a much higher deductible if they go elsewhere for health care needs.

"Our biggest complaint is that it penalizes us if we don't get it done at Capital Medical Center," Arland said.

Ardingo added that privacy also is an issue. Some workers would rather see a doctor they don't work with, he said.

Arland said she has worked at the hospital for six years and makes about $26 an hour -- "pretty much at market rate," she said. Other workers are well below market rate, such as the endoscopy technicians who work with gastrointestinal disorders, she said. Arland thinks their wages are $5 to $7 an hour lower than where they should be.

"We want them to take their profits and reinvest it in the community, and adequate market wages would be a great way to do this," she said about the hospital and its parent company, Capella Healthcare of Tennessee.

Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403

rboone@theolympian.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-0238-39533940