On Friday, November 8, we received notice that the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW)—a union representing our technical and service workers—plans to strike at Queen of the Valley Medical Center on November 20.
During the strike, the hospital will maintain its daily operations and will remain open. Our community can continue to count on the safe, high-quality care it has come to expect from Queen of the Valley Medical Center.
We respect our caregivers’ rights to engage in this action and other lawful activities. However, we are disappointed that the union has chosen to strike given that we are actively negotiating a contract and have offered significant wage increases and a generous package of benefits, including the same Paid Time Off (PTO), retirement and benefit options that NUHW-represented caregivers in Southern California have accepted in their contract.
Our preference has always been to reach a mutually acceptable agreement constructively and in good faith. We have been meeting at the bargaining table several times a month since we began negotiations in August 2018. To date we have made great progress and we have reached agreement for all non-economic issues. It is our desire to reach an agreement with NUHW on the few remaining articles left so that our employees may receive the significant and immediate wage increases our current offer would provide. We hope the union will engage more constructively in the process when we return to the table after the strike.
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