Group Health strike begins

Despite picketing that is expected to begin this morning as part of a five-day strike by Group Health Cooperative nurses and other members of the Service Employees International Union, Group Health officials say their medical centers in Everett and Lynnwood will remain open and will continue to see patients.

The health care co-op is urging members to keep their scheduled appointments. Union representatives say picketers don’t want to stop patients from getting medical care.

Plans for the strike were announced earlier this month by the union, which represents 1,700 nurses, medical assistants, social workers, therapists and other employees of Group Health in Western Washington.

They will be off their jobs from 7 a.m. today until 11:59 p.m. Friday.

“We are disappointed that SEIU leadership has chosen to strike,” Scott Armstrong, Group Health’s chief operating officer, said Sunday evening.

All Group Health facilities will be staffed and open, he said, including the 24-hour consulting nurse service.

Even though there will be picketing at Group Health medical centers, striking union members are encouraging patients who need care to get it, said union spokesman Carter Wright.

“We don’t have any dispute with patients,” Wright said. “We don’t want them to be inconvenienced.”

Union members will hand out stickers in the union’s purple and yellow colors for patients to wear who would like to show their support, he said.

Group Health has two clinics in Snohomish County. The Everett Medical Center, 2930 Maple St., serves 20,114 patients; the Lynnwood Medical Center, 20200 54th Ave. W., serves 16,473 patients.

At Lynnwood, 26 out of 95 employees are represented by the union, while at Everett 39 of the clinic’s 182 employees are represented by the union.

About two-thirds of the fill-in staffing for striking union members will come from within Group Health, spokeswoman Lee Tucker Therriault said Sunday. The fill-in employees will come from as far away as Eastern Washington and northern Idaho, and doctors working part time as administrators will help out in the clinics, she said.

Therriault said she did not know how many temporary employees were being hired from outside the organization to work during the strike.

Union representatives question whether the medical centers can operate smoothly with administrative and temporary workers filling their jobs. “We don’t think people should have to accept any inferior care during this week,” Wright said.

Patients who feel as if care isn’t up to usual standards should contact the organization’s customer service department, he said.

The two sides are split over health coverage, including co-pays for doctor visits and prescriptions.

Both sides say they’re ready to talk to try to settle the dispute, but no further negotiating sessions are scheduled.

Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.

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