Labor Relationships
For the past decade, leaders of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, an Oakland-based labor union, have tried to convince employees at hospitals and physician care centers affiliated with Sutter Health to join its union.
The truth is our record speaks for itself
Because efforts to enlist new members using traditional organizing methods have not been successful, SEIU United Healthcare Workers West is believed to have spent millions of dollars in member dues on negative publicity campaigns and deceptive distortions, all in an attempt to stop Sutter Health from replacing and improving hospitals and to discredit our not-for-profit network and those who serve our patients. Union president Sal Rosselli has admitted spending more than $2.5 million per year in member dues money on its campaign against Sutter Health. "We spend a lot more of our members' dollars struggling with Sutter than Sutter workers pay in dues," he told the San Francisco Chronicle.
SEIU United Healthcare Workers West has made a lot of unsubstantiated allegations against Sutter Health. Here’s the truth.
- Our Record Charity Care and Community Benefit
- A Fair Price
- Fair Bill Collection Practices
- A Healthy Pension
- A Voice in Staffing
- Real Retiree Health Insurance
Our Record Charity Care and Community Benefit
In 2007, our network of hospitals and physicians spent $503 million in programs for the poor and underserved, and on services for the broader community.
Sutter Health affiliates maintain generous charity care policies that provide full charity care for uninsured patients earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty income guideline. Those earning from 200 percent to 400 percent of the income guideline qualify for substantial discounts.
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A Fair Price
Analyses of public data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development show Sutter-affiliated providers are competitive overall within Northern California in their billed charges per patient discharge.
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Fair Bill Collection Practices
Our collection practices are fair and ethical. In early 2004, Sutter Health affiliates standardized collection practices that prohibit things like wage garnishments and court warrants as well as property foreclosures.
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A Healthy Pension
Sutter Health has a fully-funded pension plan. Sutter Health also has a consistent record of significant contributions to the Sutter Health Retirement Plan and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years in its retirement and pension plans. It is, in fact, SEIU’s own pension plan that is under funded. According to a June 2008 story in the New York Sun: “[I]n 2006, the SEIU National Industry Pension Plan, a plan for the rank-and-file members, covering 100,787 workers, was 75% funded. That is, it had three-fourths of the money it needed to pay benefit obligations of workers and retirees. In contrast, a separate fund for the union’s own employees, numbering 1,305, participants was 91% funded. Even better, the pension fund for SEIU officers and employees, which had 6,595 members, was 103% funded.”
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A Voice in Staffing
Hospitals affiliated with Sutter Health have individually-negotiated committee structures that give SEIU United Healthcare Workers West and its members the opportunity to raise and discuss staffing and other related issues. UHW has not taken advantage of these structures. Sutter Health-affiliated hospitals also comply with California nurse-to-patient staffing ratios.
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Real Retiree Health Insurance
Each Sutter affiliate in negotiations with SEIU United Healthcare Workers West has offered a retiree healthcare benefit, some valued up to $25,000, to help employees and spouses pay health premiums upon retirement.
Labor Relationships | SEIU United Healthcare Workers West’s misinformation campaign | What others have to say | The truth vs. SEIU United Healthcare Workers West’s allegations
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