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Morning News

Thousands of California Hospital Workers Plan Walkout

Aired July 5, 2000 - 9:00 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go ahead and start with a planned protest that promises to take some hospital workers away from the sick and onto the sidewalks. Thousands of the hospital employees in northern California are getting ready to walk out tomorrow.

Reporter David Wright of our San Francisco affiliate KRON has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID WRIGHT, KRON REPORTER (voice-over): Bob Lewis and Virginia Stalder have a combined 40 years experience on the job. But they say, recently, the job has changed for the worse.

VIRGINIA STALDER, HOSPITAL WORKER: In the last three years, we've lost almost 12 people to other jobs or retirement or -- so, and those people have not been replaced.

BOB LEWIS, HOSPITAL WORKER: We work short. I think probably two days this last week we worked short because there was nobody.

STALDER: We're working much harder with fewer people, which puts all of us at risk for injuries.

WRIGHT: So they planned a strike for one day in protest, along with some 4,000 bay area hospital workers represented by SEIU, Local 250. In all, some 10 area hospitals are affected.

HARRY JOEL, CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST: It will be hard on everyone.

WRIGHT: Harry Joel, chief negotiator for Catholic Healthcare West says the union is all but ignoring a final offer his company put on the table yesterday.

JOEL: We hope to get back to the table and try and hammer out some of these issues, but the union has been just so stubborn. It's their way or the highway.

WRIGHT: The union leadership tells a different story.

SAL ROSSELLI, SEIU, LOCAL 250: We got a final offer from Catholic Healthcare West that does not address our concerns around patient safety.

WRIGHT (on camera): One of the big health care companies that's not affected by the walkout is Kaiser Permanente. The union actually holds up this mother of all HMOs as an example of how to do things right. They say that Kaiser gives its workers a voice in patient care decisions and pays them a living wage.

(voice-over): But hospital officials say there's a limit to what they can do.

JOEL: Medicare, Balanced Budget Act has reduced revenues; Medi- Cal reimbursements are down; the HMOs want to negotiate lower rates, and it's putting a squeeze on the hospitals.

WRIGHT: As both sides dig in their heels, the patients are caught in the middle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that report was from David Wright, our San Francisco affiliate in KRON.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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