SACRAMENTO —
California hospitals have long sought to weaken legally required — and costly — seismic upgrades meant to ensure their doors can remain open to patients after a major earthquake.
Now, the hospitals have a new and unexpected ally — an influential union that is supporting the watered-down seismic standards in a deal giving the employees it represents a wage bump.
The last-minute alliance has infuriated other unions, which accused the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West of making a backroom deal that skirts the legislative process and puts patients, healthcare workers and communities at risk. It’s still unclear whether a lawmaker will author a bill containing the proposal, which is being pushed in the waning days of the legislative session that ends Aug. 31.
The California Hospital Assn., which advocates for hospitals, did not return calls or emails seeking comment.
SEIU-UHW lauded its own efforts to increase the minimum wage for pandemic-fatigued healthcare workers but did not answer questions about its alliance with the hospital group. Before appearing as allies this week, the two groups had been been locked in a fierce fight over wage measures in several Los Angeles County cities.
“You are gambling with people’s lives with this agreement,” said Chuck Idelson, a spokesperson for the California Nurses Assn. “Our commitment is to public safety and not trading that for a cash deal that primarily benefits one organization.”
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