Hospital hit with labor charges. (Up Front).The Service Employees International Union has filed nine unfair labor practice Conduct prohibited by federal law regulating relations between employers, employees, and labor organizations. Before 1935 U.S. labor unions received little protection from the law. charges -- and was preparing more last week -- in an increasingly bitter labor dispute with management at Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. The complaints followed two short strikes since May 13 when the union's contract with the East Hollywood hospital expired, as well as the firing of 18 nurses last month for allegedly participating in an illegal sickout sick·out n. An organized job action in which employees absent themselves from work on the pretext of illness. . Despite months of negotiation, the two sides have failed to reach an agreement on a new contract, which would cover all hospital workers except those in the finance unit of the Tenet Healthcare Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC) is an operating company that owns and operates 57 hospitals in the United States [1]. It is based in Dallas, Texas. Its stock ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange is NYSE: THC. Corp.-owned hospital. Management has offered a three-year contract with an 11 percent pay raise over the three years and improved health benefits, while the union wants a one-year contract with an across-the-board 7 percent pay raise and implementation of a pay scale in line with area hospitals. The union says its proposal will attract more workers and solve a staffing shortage it claims has compromised care, something management denies. It also wants a greater voice in staffing issues, something it has won from other systems. But management claims the intensity of the dispute arises out of the union's desire to organize Tenet's other hospitals, less than a quarter of which are organized in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . "Their desire goes way beyond Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian," said Albert Greene, the hospital's chief executive. "If you read their picket signs they talk about Tenet. There is nothing on them about Queen of Angels." Union officials don't deny that they would like to organize other Tenet hospitals, but say they would just like to reach a contract agreement. "This is the worst reaction I have seen management taken at a health care facility," said Steve Matthew's the SEIU's lead negotiator. "It's a clear union busting Union busting is a practice that is undertaken by an employer or their agents to prevent employees from joining a labor union, or to disempower, subvert, or destroy unions that already exist. approach they are taking. People are disgusted." The unfair labor practice charges accuse management of illegally retaliating against and threatening workers, and the union was preparing eight more charges related to the firings of the 18 nurses and other issues. Greene said the hospital had the right to fire the nurses because under a federal law designed to protect patient safety, unions must give a 10-day notice of any labor action. The alleged sickout occurred one day before a planned May 24 strike. The union claims there was no sickout, and that understaffing at the hospital has led to an absenteeism ab·sen·tee·ism n. 1. Habitual failure to appear, especially for work or other regular duty. 2. The rate of occurrence of habitual absence from work or duty. problem. The allegations were filed with the National Labor Relations Board National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), independent agency of the U.S. government created under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act), and amended by the acts of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Labor Act) and 1959 (Landrum-Griffin Act), which affirmed labor's right , which evaluates them before deciding. whether to pursue a civil complaint against the hospital. If the hospital is found culpable Blameworthy; involving the commission of a fault or the breach of a duty imposed by law. Culpability generally implies that an act performed is wrong but does not involve any evil intent by the wrongdoer. in any of the charges, remedies could include reinstating any illegally fired workers and a requirement to halt any other unfair practices. |
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