1,100 Kadlec workers on strike. They say the hospital escorted them off the job early
A seven-day strike of about 1,100 technical and service workers at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in the Tri-Cities started at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.
But rather than wait for workers to walk off the job then, security guards escorted night shift workers outside early, says their union, Service Employees International Union Healthcare 1199NW.
In response, an unfair labor practice charge will be filed by the union with the National Labor Relations Board over Kadlec’s action, the union said.
An employer forcing an early start to a strike is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act, the union said.
“This morning at 4:45 a.m., our manager and supervisor asked us to leave, despite our willingness to continue caring for our patients until the planned strike at 6 a.m.,” said Melissa Spang, a health unit coordinator in the intensive care unit of the Richland hospital, in a statement.
“My co-workers and I made clear that we were prepared to work until the strike officially began, but our managers insisted we leave early and we were walked out by security,” Spang said.
Kadlec said it needed caregivers represented by SEIU to leave 90 minutes before the planned start of the strike to allow seamless patient care by those filling in during the strike.
Kadlec has hired a nationally recognized agency to provide experienced and credentialed workers to fill in during the strike, as is standard for hospitals during strikes, it said. The strike does not include nurses.
All facilities at Kadlec will remain open and all services will continue through the strike, Kadlec said.
“We respect the rights of our caregivers to be part of the union and to participate in the strike,” it said. “We are saddened and disappointed to hear that the union is stating that Kadlec management engaged in an unfair labor practice by leading them out at 4:30 a.m.”
Kadlec said it gave union workers time to gather their things and told them they would be paid until the start of the strike time at 6 a.m. Workers also had the option to not join the strike, Kadlec said.
It accused the union of encouraging picketers to slow down or block deliveries of supplies to the hospital, and it asked the union to allow supply lines to remain open in the interest of safety for the community.
Strike for higher wages
Technical and service workers at both Kadlec’s Richland hospital and its free-standing emergency room in Kennewick are striking. Kadlec is part of the not-for-profit Providence system.
“This morning’s actions by Providence can be added to a long list of indicators that the employer’s conduct, both at and away from the bargaining table, demonstrates a lack of interest in reaching a contract — the hallmark of bad-faith bargaining,” said Jane Hopkins, president of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.
The three-year contract for SEIU workers at Kadlec expired at the end of 2023 and workers have not received a pay increase this year.
After eight months of negotiations without reaching an agreement on pay, the union gave Kadlec 10 days notice that workers would strike.
The union has been asking for Kadlec employees to be paid the same wages as employees at Swedish Health Services in Seattle, which Kadlec points out is one of the most expensive places to live in Washington state. Swedish is also part of the Providence health system.
The union says Kadlec administrators are paid salaries comparable, and in some cases higher, than administrators at Swedish Health Services.
Now, Kadlec is losing workers to higher paid jobs, including at health care facilities in Prosser and Sunnyside, and has had trouble recruiting new workers, according to the union.
Kadlec said it is committed to negotiating a fair and competitive contract for its workers and is looking forward to returning to the bargaining table once the strike ends.
The striking workers are in dozens of job classifications, including:
Certified nursing assistants, who bathe and feed patients
Janitors and cleaners
Sterile processing technicians who assemble medical and surgical supplies
Operating room technicians who support surgeons
Nutrition and dietary workers
Technologists
Respiratory therapists
