Is it necessary for the El Camino Hospital District and its primary union to continue a war of words that is simply piling on problems at a time when the hospital is facing what could become a serious financial crisis?
With its major earthquake retrofitting project held up in court and already more than $100 million over budget, the hospital was hit two weeks ago by a lawsuit filed by Service Employees International to force disclosure of financial records and the total compensation of each of its top employees. And last week, the union and Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, announced that she has introduced legislation that would add the force of law to the SEIU’s demands for financial openness.
Some observers, including hospital vice president and spokesman Jon Friedenberg, believe that what the SEIU really wants is a vote on an “agency shop,” which would determine whether a majority of eligible hospital employees want to be represented by the union. If so, virtually all eligible workers would be forced to pay dues to — and be represented by — the union whether they wanted it or not.
The SEIU says the lawsuit and legislation simply seek more information about the hospital’s finances so it can protect worker rights.
The lawsuit covers much the same ground as an action filed by the Voice last year, which resulted in an agreement by the hospital to file IRS Form 990s, which disclosed the compensation of top El Camino employees, including then-CEO Lee Domanico. Now the union’s attorney says that’s not enough: “They [the hospital] should have responded more fully than they did.”
Residents of the hospital district should have no quarrel with legislation that simply strengthens the responsibility of El Camino to share its financial records and operate all of its business in the open. And certainly the idea that compensation of the board’s top employees is not public record cannot be defended.
But in recent weeks were are seeing more posturing than substance from the SEIU. It has opposed the hospital’s decision to phase out its extended care patients over three years, a move that is unpopular but clearly within the purview of management. And as for transparency, in recent months, The League of Women Voters gave the hospital high marks for being much more open about its finances.
This is not to say that we disagree with Assemblywoman Lieber’s legislation that would simply put into state law what we have believed all along — that the hospital’s financial records, including compensation of highly paid employees — should be open to the public. But it seems to us that the present dispute could be resolved by reasonable people sitting around a table.
Perhaps that will happen when the hospital finds a new CEO to replace Lee Domanico, who left at the end of the year for a job running a hospital group in Oregon.
