PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center union-represented employees plan to picket the hospital Thursday to protest proposed labor contracts that raise health care costs and don’t guarantee minimum staffing.
Service Employees International Union Healthcare 1199NW spokeswoman Linnae Riesen said the informational picket will be at 5 p.m. outside the hospital at 939 E. Caroline St.
Nurses and other health care workers will participate before and after their shifts and during breaks, Riesen said.
Union members will make signs and a banner at 5 p.m. today at 721 E. First St., Suite 102, next to the KONP office, Riesen said.
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW — which represents 205 nurses, 120 service workers and 38 dietary workers at OMC — threatened to conduct an 18-hour strike Aug. 11.
A Kitsap County Superior Court judge granted OMC a two-week temporary restraining order to stop the strike Wednesday and set a hearing Aug. 17, the day the order expires, on enjoining the union from striking “during the pendency of this action.”
The court found the strike was illegal.
OMC officials said it would have cost $600,000 to hire and train 150 replacement workers to work from 6 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Mediated contract talks resumed Thursday with no settlement.
“We brought forward new counter-proposals to hospital management, but they didn’t have any response for us,” said Ginny Majewski, a registered nurse at OMC, in a union statement.
“We still haven’t reached agreement on our key issues of affordable health care for our families and guaranteed staffing minimums to improve patient care.
“We’re still committed to settling a fair contract, but right now, the hospital hasn’t confirmed any additional bargaining dates with us.”
Under OMC’s proposal, employees who work at least four days a week would continue to receive full health care coverage.
They would be asked to pay $95 per month more for their children’s medical premiums and $17 per month more to insure a spouse.
Changes to medical benefits would be made equally for managers and executives.
OMC spends 60 percent of its net revenue on salaries and benefits, CEO Eric Lewis has said. That ratio is 52 percent at most hospitals in the Seattle area, he has said.
The average hourly wage for an OMC registered nurse has risen from $38.19 in 2007 to $43.20 in 2010.
Nurse wages rose by more than 10 percent in 2010 alone, OMC officials said
OMC officials said the union’s staffing-level claims are unfounded, saying they work closely with employees through unit-based staffing committees to analyze capacity data and trends.
The union staged a picket at OMC in April to make the same grievances.
The current three-year collective bargaining agreements expired in October.
Rhonda Curry, assistant administrator for strategic development, released a statement after learning of the picket late Friday.
“Unlike the picketing SEIU conducted on April 6, we have not been given the courtesy of any advanced direct notice,” Curry said, noting that Thursday is the same day the union originally had planned to strike.
“The hospital district will maintain normal operations on Aug. 11 the same as it would any other day of the week,” she said.
“While an unusual occurrence, informational picketing does not alter our No. 1 priority: We are here to provide our patients with needed care and services. They are depending on us.
“We expect that all scheduled staff will report to work. We anticipate that any picketing will be conducted on public sidewalks only and that access to and from our facilities will not be impeded.”
OMC officials said they are facing unprecedented financial challenges and need to control costs so as to keep health care affordable for patients.
“Despite these challenges, we look forward to advancing a fair settlement that protects the interests of our patients,” Curry said.
“Negotiations with SEIU are ongoing. We remain committed to negotiating a fair settlement for employees but cannot allow the medical center to be pressured — whether through threat of an illegal strike, lawful picketing or other labor tactics — to enter into agreements that would force this public hospital into deficit spending.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com