OMC commissioners told to ‘stay the course’
Published on Wed, Mar 28, 2012Read More News
The large audience for the Wednesday, March 21, Olympic Medical Center board meeting filled the regular venue and spilled into an adjacent space. Many in the crowd were there to support the board in its ongoing dispute with the 350-plus hospital workers represented by the Service Employees International Union. Sequim Gazette photo by Mark Couhig
Hearing convenes to weigh
charges against OMC
Representatives from OMC and SEIU are at the table again, once more under the auspices of the Washington Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC). But rather than continuing their 16-month mediation effort, a hearing is under way to judge the merits of several unfair labor practices charges brought by the union against OMC.
Claire Nickleberry, an adjudicator and mediator with PERC, is overseeing the hearing, which began Thursday morning, March 22, and continued the next day.
Nickleberry said the entire hearing should last five days, “but not in a row.”
The hearing reconvenes May 2-4.
Nickleberry said a number of outcomes are possible. For example, she may order the two sides to return to the mediation table.
She said any decision she makes can be appealed to the PERC commissioners. If one or the other side remains unsatisfied, it can then take the case to court.
She doesn’t anticipate handing down a decision in the case until September.
Before convening the hearing, Nickleberry asked the two sides if they had discussed a possible settlement.
OMC’s lead attorney, Julie Kebler, was succinct: “Continuously,” she said.
Before sending the two sides out to establish which exhibits would be presented in the case, Nickleberry instructed both to take one last shot at a settlement.
“This is a good time to talk about that,” she said. “You’ll never know more about the case than you do right now.”
Nickleberry said if the two sides can agree to a settlement, the union would then withdraw the charges.
She told those in attendance, “It’s pretty rare that they would reach a settlement at this point.”
by MARK ST.J. COUHIG
Sequim Gazette
For the past 16 months members of the Olympic Medical Center Board of Commissioners have been taking it on the chin, with regular criticisms issued by the 350-plus hospital workers who are represented by Service Employees International Union 1199 NW (SEIU) and by union supporters in the community.
The protests kicked up a notch in early February after the board declared an impasse in negotiations and voted to approve a new three-year contract with the union.
Last week the commissioners enjoyed a bit of turnabout as during their Wednesday, March 21, meeting nearly a dozen speakers took the opportunity to express their support for the board and to encourage them to “stay the course.”
Supporters included other union workers within the hospital, hospital physicians and several from within the business community.
Sarah Garrett, an applications analyst in patient access services at OMC and a member of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), told the board that “Not all nurses belong to that union. Many don’t.”
She noted that UFCW workers recently approved their contract with OMC. “After 15 months of negotiations (with SEIU), the rest of us were starting to feel like, ‘Why did we settle?’ I support the decision to force them to take the contract. If you want to get what they offer in the city, go there,” Garrett said.
Dr. Mark Fischer, who practices at the Olympic Medical Physicians Specialty Clinic, read a statement provided by multiple members of the Medical Executive Committee, saying the members first wanted to reassure the community that the quality of care, patient safety, mission and vision of OMC “remains excellent.”
He noted that “For quite some time and more recently, questions of safety staffing and insinuations about OMC quality of care and patient safety have occurred.”
“Please look beyond any inference of inaccurate safety claims as we look forward to continued medical excellence and tireless, ongoing improvement in care for patients and our community,” Fischer concluded.
Offended by comments
Melinda Smithson, OMC’s controller/deputy treasurer, said she was speaking as both a private citizen as well as an employee.
“I think that all of us employed here would say that we would prefer to not have our pension cut or to not have to pay more for health insurance coverage for family members. But I also believe that it is a necessary step that OMC must take in order to remain viable.”
Smithson also took issue with some of the protestors’ comments: “I have been offended by the accusations against the board and against (OMC CEO) Eric Lewis. One of the accusations has been that OMC has spent money on unnecessary things.”
“I am very, very thankful to the board, to Eric Lewis and to the administration for having the knowledge and big picture insight to realize that tough decisions have to be made.”
Kaj Ahlburg, an attorney and businessman, said, “OMC has basically granted the SEIU the same benefits that management and the other 700 hospital workers have. Giving SEIU workers more would be unfair to OMC’s other employees.”
“It would also be unfair to the taxpayers who support OMC,” he added.
“Most taxpayers in the hospital district make much less than nurses at OMC belonging to SEIU,” Ahlburg said. “To ask these taxpayers, most of whom do not have three-year contracts or guaranteed annual pay increases, to fund even more lavish benefits for SEIU members would be wrong.”
While the majority of the comments were complimentary of the board, two speakers took the board’s actions to task. Bill Kildall, organizer of the recently formed Clallam County Quality Care Coalition, asked the board to improve access to hospital governance information.
Tim Kelly, a union worker from Forks, provided a spirited defense of the union, saying he is proud to support its efforts.
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