WHAT'S NEW
NEW VOICE AT SAINT JOE'S WEB RADIO EPISODE:
DOLORES HUERTA INTERVIEW
Dolores Huerta, Co-founder of the United Farmworkers, on the need for a free and fair election
Dolores Huerta, a legendary advocate for many progressive causes for over 50 years recently met with two top-level managers of Saint Joseph Health Systems to call for a free and fair election agreement. "The Sisters have had a stellar reputation through the years of helping people in need," said Huerta, "yet when it comes to their own workers, the Sisters seem to have a blind spot." She likens the need for a free and fair union election to that of having a referee in a basketball game so that "if there's a foul, it can be handled immediately."
NEW VIDEO: CAREGIVERS PROTEST FOLEY & LARDNER’S UNION BUSTING & INTIMIDATION
Hundreds of healthcare workers demonstrated in front of the law offices of Foley & Lardner on June 12th to protest the firm's anti-union tactics aimed against caregivers organizing their union at St. Joseph Health System. SJHS employees are especially angered that the coercion and harassment are being paid for by resources that could be better used to address patient care needs. Caregivers attempted to deliver a letter to the law firm and were blocked from entering the building. Workers and community supporters persisted for several minutes, chanting "Let Justice In!", until Foley & Lardner were forced to meet with them and receive the letter. Click to read more ...
HOSPITAL WORKERS WANT THEIR VOICES HEARD
OC Register
Tuesday June 17th, 2008
Every day for the last decade that Janice Smith went to work at St. Jude Medical Center there was never a doubt as to what her mission was in serving her patients: service, excellence, dignity and justice.
As Smith put it, the nonprofit, faith-based Fullerton hospital makes it clear what its guiding principles are, even going as far as placing these values throughout the hospital: on its walls, its literature and its Web site, which states that these core values "remain the guiding principles for all we do."
"All" apparently doesn't apply to the hospital's own employees, as Smith, a respiratory therapist, has painfully discovered in the past year after breaking a clavicle in a bicycling accident in March 2007.
JUSTICE at ST. JOSEPH HEALTH SYSTEM
As health care workers, we are committed to providing the highest quality care and support services to patients and their families. These are the same values shared by the more than 152,000 caregivers in California who are members of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West.
That's why we're joining together to organize a union at the hospitals operated by the St. Joseph Health System. We've seen our colleagues at facilities run by Kaiser Permanente, Catholic Healthcare West, Daughters of Charity Health System, HCA, Tenet, and others gain a stronger and more effective voice in safe staffing and improved patient care decisions.
Our unionized colleagues also have increased training and education opportunities, improved their retirement benefits, achieved fully employer-paid health insurance for themselves and their families, and raised wages - all of which lead to better recruitment and retention of health care workers, which is proven to improve patient care.