Group Health Nurses To Strike On West Side

With its hospitals empty and no contract talks in sight, Group Health Cooperative said it is ready for today’s scheduled one-day walkout by nurses.But even if the strike is for only 24 hours, it could be days before many of the nurses - and other Group Health workers - get back to work.

The nurses voted, 430-205, Monday to strike.

The strike won’t affect Group Health members in Spokane because nurses here aren’t striking.

However, a letter about the strike - meant for West Side residents - accidentally was mailed to members in Eastern Washington as well, said Henry Berman, president of Group Health Northwest.

Wages are not an issue. The union has agreed to a three-year base-wage freeze and to eliminate no-cost health benefits for employees who work less than onequarter time.

Instead, job security is the key sticking point.

The nurses union - noting the possibility of a merger with Virginia Mason Hospital - wants to ensure protection for its members in the event of alliances with non-union facilities.

It also wants retraining for members whose speciality areas have been cut back, as well as a system that allows them to “bump” less highly skilled workers.

Group Health says those demands, if granted, would limit its flexibility.

The health-care cooperative’s 30 outpatient medical centers will remain open today because they are not as nursing-intensive as hospitals, a spokesman said.