A union attempting to organize workers at two Catholic hospitals claims that church officials are violating their own moral code by threatening employees who favor collective bargaining.
The high-stakes campaign targets more than 1,500 nurse’s aides, physical therapists, lab technicians, janitors and clerical staff at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood and Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne, both of which are owned by Catholic Healthcare West.
“There is truly a brutal anti-union campaign underway in Los Angeles,” said Maureen Anderson, spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union, Local 399, which is leading the drive to unionize employees in the two hospitals. “The Catholic Church is opposed to these kinds of tactics. It is shocking and has been worse in Los Angeles than anywhere else.”
Susan Whitten, vice president of strategy and marketing for CHW in Southern California, said the union’s charges are unfounded.
“We do not participate in union busting,” she said. “Our administrators are open to discussions with our employees. Our position is that we support our employees’ right to make an informed decision. We have the right and the obligation to provide information the same way the union is presenting information to them.”
But union leaders say they have spent more than a year trying to organize workers in the two hospitals and that CHW has fought them every step of the way. They allege that hospital administrators even threatened to fire employees if their efforts continue a charge CHW officials deny.
But the union has been successfully circulating a petition throughout both hospitals. It also has been distributing a sleek purple-and-white pamphlet with a picture of a church alongside the words “A Time To Break Silence.” Inside are quotes from Pope John Paul II and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops stating their support for organized labor.
CHW, by contrast, is seeking to inform its employees about the benefits of direct communication without a “third party,” Whitten said.
Union leaders said the employees are hoping to get better wages, benefits and more staffing to ease increased workloads by organizing a bargaining unit.
About 30 percent of L.A.’s hospital workers are union members, Anderson said, adding that nurse’s aides and orderlies who are union members make 43 percent more than their non-union counterparts. CHW insists its wages are comparable to those at other hospitals in the area.
But some workers say wages are only part of the issue.
“We need a union for better patient care,” said Caroline Plaza, an administrative assistant at St. Francis. “There have been so many cutbacks and you can see the difference. We need to have a voice.”
CHW owns and operates four hospitals in Los Angeles County and 38 hospitals throughout California. The non-profit company is the second-largest hospital chain in the state after for-profit Tenet Healthcare Corp. in Santa Barbara. Catholic Healthcare West had revenues of $3.2 billion last year and is run by a board that includes nine religious orders.
