Several hundred union members gathered outside Sutter Health's headquarters in Sacramento Wednesday to protest stalled contract negotiations. Sutter Health and Service Employees International Union's United Healthcare Workers-West have been in negotiations for six months, said Glenn Goldstein, an organizing director for SEIU's United Healthcare Workers-West.
Rally organizers estimated there were at least 400 union members at Wednesday's event, which was held at Sutter Health's headquarters on River Plaza Drive. Some of the protestors were Sutter Health workers.
The contract talks cover 4,000 Sutter Health workers in Northern California including surgical technicians, nurses aides, housekeeping and clerical staff, Goldstein said.
The issues under discussion are wages, job security, increased funding for training and the right to have a neutral party mediate staffing disputes, he said.
Nine Sutter Health hospitals in Northern California, including Sutter Roseville Medical Center, are in contract talks with the union. Each hospital handles its own labor agreements, said Sutter spokeswoman Karen Garner.
Garner said it is hard to understand the point behind the rally since union officials only began offering proposals several weeks ago.
"We do value our employees and are interested in a generous contract," she said.
Call The Bee's Sandy Louey, (916) 321-1088
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.