SEIU wants $15 minimum wage for SLU Hospital workers: 3 things to know

The Service Employees International Union, which represents about 650 nonclinical workers at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, plans to seek a wage increase as the union prepares for its first contract negotiations since St. Louis-based SSM Health purchased the hospital, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report.

Here are three things to know about the issue.

1. Union members want a minimum wage of at least $15 per hour and 5 percent annual wage increases over the duration of the expected three-year contract, according to the report. Lenny Jones, director of the Kansas and Missouri SEIU health care division, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about 216 employees of the 650 represented are making less than the $15 an hour.

2. Negotiations are expected to begin Jan. 13.

3. As negotiations begin, hospital spokesman Jason Merrill said in a statement that SSM Health is “committed to negotiating in good faith with SEIU.”

SEIU wants $15 minimum wage for SLU Hospital workers: 3 things to know

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