A secret deal between a group of California hospitals that sought to weaken seismic upgrades at medical centers and a major union collapsed on Aug. 23, days after it was made public, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
The alliance between Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and the California Hospital Association angered competing unions, which accused the duo of making a backroom deal to skirt the legislative process. Furthermore, they argued that the deal placed patients, healthcare workers and communities at risk.
A hospital association memo asserted that the deal with Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West was put together too quickly and attempted to delay a state law that requires hospitals to have earthquake upgrades by 2030. The upgrades are estimated to cost billions and will likely result in closures, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Before the deal was brought to public attention, the association and the union had been locked in a fierce battle over raising the minimum wage for hospital workers in Los Angeles. The California Hospital Association sought a seven-year delay to the 2030 requirement and to limit hospital building standards when emergency services are provided. In exchange, unions would see the healthcare minimum wage increase between $19 and $24 in Los Angeles beginning Jan. 1.
After the deal fell apart, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West accused the hospital association of walking away from "a conceptual agreement" over labor-related provisions.
The hospital association wrote in the memo the deal was not able to advance this year due to several factors, including "high stakes, a short timeline, CHA’s commitment not to agree to changes that would erode the protections this proposed bill included, and other groups of organized labor in opposition," the memo said.