San Benito Health Foundation workers took to the streets
yesterday, trying to rally community support for a union contract
that would preserve their healthcare benefits just months after a
contentious six-month campaign to unionize.
In February, employees at the foundation joined the Service
Employees International Union after months of infighting with
foundation administration.
Hollister – San Benito Health Foundation workers took to the streets yesterday, trying to rally community support for a union contract that would preserve their healthcare benefits just months after a contentious six-month campaign to unionize.
In February, employees at the foundation joined the Service Employees International Union after months of infighting with foundation administration.
However, employees recently learned that the foundation would no longer pay health insurance premiums for employees next year, according to Carmen Lujan, who works in accounts payable. In the past, the foundation had covered health premiums for all employees and 50 percent of the costs for employees’ dependents, she said.
For Lujan, who has worked at the clinic for five years, it would mean paying about $2,000 more per year for healthcare.
“We’re trying to bargain for health benefits,” Lujan said Tuesday as she stood in front of the Health Foundation with about ten fellow workers and union organizers. Drivers of several passing cars, busses and semi-trucks honked their horns to show their support for the union’s cause.
Administrators at the clinic have made several proposals during recent contract negotiations, but the proposals have been unacceptable to the foundations’ employees, SEIU organizer Angelique Agloro said.
However, Executive Director Rose Vivian Fernandez said that she is uncertain about what the employees who demonstrated Tuesday want.
“We have the best healthcare in town,” she said. “Many community members don’t get the level of insurance we provide.”
While healthcare costs are set to increase for employees, administrators will retain their current benefits, according to Lujan.
“We want better health benefits for ourselves and our dependents,” she said. “They’re (administrators) just wanting us to pay out of pocket, for administrators it will remain the same. If you look at the whole picture, why are we paying out of pocket and them not. They get more money than we do.”
Employees at the Health Foundation, who approached union organizers last year about joining the union, voted in February to join SEIU after a bitter six-month campaign, which resulted in more than half of the workers being fired or quitting because of tension between employees and the administration caused by the push to unionize.
The SEIU will continue to negotiate on the employees’ behalf with the foundation’s administration this month to try and preserve the healthcare benefits, Agloro said.
“We want to bargain a fair contract. We came in to the negotiations in good faith,” said Agloro. “If they (clinic employees) don’t support it, we don’t support it.”
Luke Roney covers politics and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
