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| Washington Hospital Center |
In case workers are wondering about SEIU’s plans for upcoming
negotiations with Kaiser Permanente, you might wanna check out the latest news
from Washington, DC.
According to this
article in the Washington Business Journal, SEIU just agreed to eliminate
the defined-benefit pension for 1,700 workers at Washington Hospital Center,
which helps care for 500,000 Kaiser members in the D.C. area as part of the hospital’s
“expanded
partnership” with Kaiser… which includes staffing the hospital with Kaiser
doctors.
Here’s what the Washington Business Journal says about SEIU’s
newly negotiated contract for the hospital’s 1,700 workers:
Workers made two key concessions: Union members will transition from a defined-benefits retirement program to a 403(b) plan, the nonprofit equivalent of a 401(k) program, and all employees will be transferred to a standardized paid-time off plan and the hospital's standard holiday program.
Tasty hears that SEIU’s pension cuts will slash workers’
retirement pay by tens of thousands of dollars per worker. Meanwhile, multiple
sources -- including Kaiser executives like Henry Diaz -- report that Dave
Regan has already signed a secret deal to make the same pension cuts for
SEIU-UHW’s 43,000 Kaiser workers in California.
Tasty wonders whether Dangerous Dave Regan has the same
attitude towards the cuts as Daniel
Fields, Jr., the president of the SEIU Local 722 in D.C. who penned the deal
that gutted his members’ retirement benefits. When a reporter asked “Junior”
about his reaction to the deal, he responded this
way:
"Well you know, a good contract is when both sides get screwed a little," Fields said.
Hmm… “Junior” apparently ain’t losing any sleep about his
members getting “screwed a little”… or “screwed
a lot,” in this case. After all, the pension cuts won’t affect him. Both Junior and
Regan have their own secure defined-benefit pension plan provided by SEIU’s Purple Palace…
and funded by their members’ union dues.
Bottom line: Kaiser workers in California better watch out.
What additional proof do you need about SEIU’s deal to gut your
defined-benefit pension plan?
