Hospital, union agree on contract Hospital, union agree on contract (July 15, 2005)

By Katie Vaughn

El Camino Hospital and the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union reached an agreement on July 1 over the terms of a new two-year contract, one day after the old one expired.

"Union members feel great about the agreement," said Gayle Tiller, communications director of SEIU Local 715, which represents nearly half of the hospital's 2,000 employees.

Under the new conditions, employees across the board receive a pay increase of 4 percent, with additional wage increases of 3.5 percent in certain jobs -- including a number of technicians, respiratory therapists and laundry and food workers -- to bring them up to the present market rate.

The contract stipulates that the hospital will pay 100 percent of basic health care premiums for employees and their families in 2006, and at least 95 percent in 2007 -- conditions hospital CEO Lee Domanico announced June 21.

Also in the contract is a 33 percent increase in tuition assistance for employees who want to attend school to further their careers. The hospital will also begin a new program next year to compensate certain employees who take on translating roles in addition to their regular jobs. Such workers will receive an extra $50 per month for their bilingual services.

Charlene Gliniecki, vice president of human resources at El Camino, said the hospital's goal of maintaining top employees created a shared interest with the union in finding an agreement.

"We have a real commitment to competitive wages," Gliniecki said. "We share the same interests as SEIU had, so it was not that hard to agree."

In the contract, the hospital also created seven new permanent positions from per diem jobs, for which the impermanent employees can apply. The new agreement came a week after the union protested the lack of medical coverage for the hospital's per diem workers. Tiller said the tactic paid off for the workers.

"The rally played a major role in negotiations," she said.

Gliniecki said the hospital offers the highest per diem differential in the area, meaning that day workers are paid 25 percent more than their permanent counterparts in compensation for their flexible status. She said the hospital had already decided to create the seven new positions a week before the protest, adding that the union's rally concerned more than El Camino day workers, drawing protesters from other area hospitals.

"The rally is really a separate animal," she said. "It's a rally for the union as kind of an advertisement."

Both Gliniecki and Norma Rosas, a certified nursing assistant at El Camino Hospital and a part-time SEIU organizer, expressed satisfaction with the negotiations and the resulting contract. Rosas said the organization achieved its goal of not losing any demands in the bargaining process.

"We didn't have to give anything up," Rosas said.

E-mail Katie Vaughn at kvaughn@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.