YAKIMA, Wash. – The strike at Yakima MultiCare Hospital has reached a critical point as the hospital announced it will start looking for employees to fill the positions of the 168 employees who have been on strike for five weeks. The Teamsters Local 760 Union confirmed the two sides last met on Tuesday, but the meeting was brief with no progress in negotiations.
MultiCare informed the union via email late Wednesday about its decision to hire replacements. This move comes as a surprise to many who were hoping for a resolution.
Rick Salinas from Teamsters shared the mixed emotions among the striking workers.
“There was some anger, there was some angst, there’s concern. There’s some thoughts of being disrespected.”
MultiCare is within its legal rights under the National Labor Relations Act to hire replacements. However, Salinas expressed disappointment in the hospital’s decision, emphasizing the impact on the workers.
MultiCare sent the following statement to NonStopLocal amid this development:
“As the strike by Teamsters Local 760 enters its second month, MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital continues to carefully assess our operational needs to ensure we continue to provide safe, high quality care for our patients and community.
To meet those needs, we must make difficult decisions that allow us to responsibly steward our resources and maintain essential services.
We have begun posting positions in departments that have the most critical needs.
Technicians who have chosen to continue working during the strike will not be impacted by these postings.”
Salinas responded to the development, saying, “The employer has told [the strikers] them, we respect your right to go out on strike, and they’ve exercised that right protected under law. And then to have the employer come back and now say, well, I guess we’re viewing it as you’ve been out there too long and now, we’re moving forward to replace you, that’s kind of the perception it’s seen as.”
The union continues to push for what they call “the big three” in negotiations: union security, 401k plans, and retirement security. Salinas highlighted the significant changes to the 401k plan.
“[The] MultiCare system for their 401k is [that] their plan, I believe, makes contributions annually so once per year, which is quite a significant change for these employees,” he said.
Salinas emphasized that the employees are committed to staying on strike as long as necessary to achieve their goals. Currently, there are no planned meetings between the hospital and the union in the near future.
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