Group Health workers ratify contract

Tue., Jan. 25, 2005

Associated Press

SEATTLE – Nurses and other workers at Group Health Cooperative have voted to ratify a new contract after lengthy negotiations that included a five-day strike last summer.

Health benefits were the sticking point for the nonprofit HMO and its workers, represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1199. More than 96 percent of workers voted to accept the contract, the union announced Monday.

The 2,000 workers covered by the union contract now receive health benefits with no premiums or deductibles.

The new contract includes monthly premiums of $10 for individuals and $40 for a worker, spouse and children starting next July. The premiums increase to $15 for individuals and $70 for full families by July 2008.

Group Health backed off an unpopular proposal to levy a $100 monthly charge on workers whose spouses get health coverage through Group Health, if those spouses are eligible for health benefits somewhere else and decline to use them.

The contract also includes yearly pay raises ranging from 3 percent to 4.5 percent, depending on the job and the location. The union represents a wide range of workers, from nurses making $70,000 a year to custodians making $24,000.

“We’re proud of the stand we took for the principle that working families need affordable health care,” Group Health RN Vicki Neumeier said in a union news release.

Union workers went on strike for five days last August, affecting 18 Western Washington clinics and offices.

Group Health officials maintained through the negotiations that they might have to increase premiums for patients if workers didn’t contribute more.

“This contract is a win-win,” Group Health President and CEO Scott Armstrong said Monday. “It rewards our valued staff, and at the same time it’s fair to our purchasers, patients, and their families.”

Group Health, a nonprofit based in Seattle, is one of the nation’s oldest health maintenance organizations. Together with Group Health Options Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, the co-op handles health care for more than 540,000 people in Washington state and North Idaho.

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