Alta Bates to Disgruntled Employees: Take Your One-Day Strike and Shove It

Speaking of baseball, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center is playing hardball with Service Employees International Union Local 250 members who have decided to strike today out of solidarity with their colleagues at eight other hospitals owned by the Sutter Health network, which runs 27 in northern California. The strike was only meant to be a 24-hour walkout, but Alta Bates and other Sutter hospitals are locking the strikers out until Monday, citing contracts with temporary employees hired to replace the strikers.

The Chron quoted Alta Bates Summit's vice president for medical affairs, Dr. John Gentile, as suggesting the sympathy strike is meant to unify the unions so that they can bargain collectively for a "master contract," one that applies to all of Sutter Health's campuses. Gentile said that that's an unrealistic goal, as each hospital is run independently even though it's part of the Sutter network.

Here's a breakdown of the SEIU Local 250's complaints against Sutter, as well as Sutter's response to SEIU's charges.