Workers at Watsonville (Calif.) Community Hospital went on strike June 14, according to a Santa Cruz Sentinel report.
A previous news release states the workers, represented by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would strike "to protect patient care and protest the hospital's unfair labor practices."
The strike began Wednesday after WCH halted negotiations with a federal mediator June 9, according to the report.
Hospital officials previously said they would consider negotiations if SEIU agreed to pull newspaper ads the union placed, SEIU field representative Kiernan Colby told the Sentinel. Negotiations were never renewed, although the ads were pulled, according to the report.
Cindy Weigelt, a hospital spokesperson, did not answer the Sentinel's questions related to the strike, the ads or hospital operations, but did give the publication a statement.
She said health insurance premiums remain a key sticking point, and that unionized employees won't contribute to the health insurance premiums for themselves and their families, as is the case with other unions at the hospital, according to the report.
"We have negotiated new contracts with all of the other unions, and, currently, all other non-SEIU union members and non-unionized staff contribute to their healthcare premiums," the statement reads. "The hospital management team is simply proposing all staff pay at the same level to ensure equity among all employees."
SEIU denies those assertions, telling the Sentinel the hospital is "distorting a legal argument in order to position the hospital in a sympathetic light."
The strike is slated to end Friday. Meanwhile, the hospital said it is "fully prepared to continue providing uninterrupted care."
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