Santa Maria Sun / News

Dignity Health and its employee union come to an agreement

AMY ASMAN

Nonprofit hospital system Dignity Health narrowly escaped an employee strike when it reached a tentative contractual agreement with Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) on June 22.

The contract covers 14,000 employees at more than 30 Dignity Health facilities in California, including Marian Regional Medical Center and French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo.

If ratified, the four-year agreement would maintain step wage increases during the first two years of the contract and provide an across-the-board increase in the second year, according to information from Dignity Health. Employees whose wages are below market equivalents will receive additional increases as well.

Dignity Health will maintain its current health and retirement benefit packages for employees and their families. Dignity Health and SEIU-UHW will reconvene in two years to consider wages, benefits, retirement, and staff education funding for the remainder of the contract.

Ratification voting was scheduled to begin on June 25.

“We’re pleased to join with the SEIU-UHW in a tentative agreement that is good for our employees and our organization,” Herbert J. Vallier, chief human resources officer for Dignity Health, said in a press release. “This agreement honors our commitment to our employees while acknowledging the significant challenges Dignity Health and other providers are facing in the current, difficult economy.”