Corporate Bully Flys into Redding

Thursday, October 30, 2008

REDDING - The Union representing Nurses and Medical Technicians at Shasta Regional Medical Center announced that it has filed charges against SRMC with the Federal National Labor Relations Board over the announcement by the hospital’s new management team that it is terminating all employees. 

Business Manager and spokesman for the Union, Business Manager Chris Darker, stated, “We have a contract with SRMC that provides certain job security rules for the nurses and medical technicians.  Employees can only be terminated for improper behavior or laid off due to downsizing. They cannot be terminated and rehired simply to reduce employee pay and benefits to increase the profit margin for a new operator”.

The Union’s position is that SRMC can hire whatever firm they want to run the hospital, but the wages, benefits and due process for job security established in the Union contract cannot be changed by the new administration without going through a proper negotiation process.

Darker commented:  “The new manager, Prem Reddy, has no respect for this community if he thinks he can fly into Redding and fire hundreds of employees who financially support several thousand family members without batting an eye.  He may have gotten away with that in Southern California but Redding is a tight knit community that will not stand for slash and burn corporate tactics”.

The Union is concerned that the cut throat tactics of the new administrators will be the death of the long struggling hospital. 

“This is not what SRMC needs right now.  Who will want health care at a hospital that treats its professional staff this way and where the hospital manager has gone on the record stating that patients only deserve the amount of care they each can afford?”