Santa Rosa Healthcare Workers Seek Accountability From Catholic Hospital System

Failure by Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital
to agree on transfer of county services fuels efforts to make Memorial
responsive to its workforce and community stakeholders.

SANTA ROSA, Calif., March 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the wake of
news about Sonoma County's healthcare delivery system, healthcare workers at
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital -- already engaged in a multi-year effort to win
an effective voice in the workplace -- vowed to redouble efforts to make
Memorial Hospital and its statewide corporate parent, the St. Joseph Health
System (SJHS), accountable to the community and its own workforce.
In separate statements this morning, the two hospital system giants
communicated their failure to negotiate a transfer of Sonoma County services
currently provided by Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa. Sutter Santa Rosa
declared that "the transaction with Memorial is no longer a possibility."
With no clear prospect of Memorial being bound by a county contract, Memorial
workers plan to shine an ever more intense spotlight on the hospital's
practices.
The announced layoff of 212 workers and the closure of Acute Psychiatric
and Rehabilitation Services by Memorial Hospital in February sparked an outcry
from workers, as well as extensive media coverage of how the decisions create
holes in the county's healthcare delivery system. Memorial Hospital cited
financial hardship as the reason for the cuts yet the company's own website
shows $15.6 million in net income for SJHS Sonoma County in 2007. The St.
Joseph Health System is one of the most profitable hospital companies in
California. It reported a company-wide net income margin of 8.2% for FYE
2007.
Hundreds of Memorial Hospital employees signed a petition calling for a
halt to the layoffs and expressing deep concern for the loss of services. The
petition will be delivered to hospital management on Thursday. Next week,
workers will hold an informational picket outside the hospital and a
community-worker speak-out at Odd Fellows Hall. Unlike Santa Rosa workers at
the Sutter and Kaiser Permanente hospitals, Memorial service and technical
workers have no organized voice in the workplace through a union. The St.
Joseph Health System has repeatedly rejected workers' calls for mutually
agreed-upon ground rules leading to a secret ballot union election.
The 150,000-member SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West is the largest
hospital and healthcare union in the western United States and represents
every type of healthcare worker, including nurses, professional, technical and
service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high-quality healthcare
for all.

CONTACT: HEATHER FOOTE
(707) 365-3982

SOURCE SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West

Heather Foote, +1-707-365-3982, for SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West