Workers on strike at John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek (Calif.), were warned that they would be replaced unless they return to work today, according to a Contra Costa Times report.
"John Muir Health will begin the process of recruiting permanent replacements...for those who remain on strike on or after Monday, Aug. 24," Lisa Foust, John Muir Health's senior human resources vice president, said in a letter sent to all strikers, according to the report.
She confirmed last week that the hiring of permanent replacements for striking union members will begin Monday, but noted that any of the workers can return to their jobs as long as they're still open.
The striking workers are 19 skilled maintenance employees — four of them apprentices — who run and maintain JMMC's power plant, boilers, chillers, electrical and plumbing systems.
Despite the ultimatum from John Muir Health, the workers will continue their strike, Bart Florence, director of stationary affairs for Stationary Engineers Local 39, part of the International Union of Operating Engineers, told the Contra Costa Times last week. He added that the union had filed an unfair labor practice complaint about the threat, its fifth complaint against the hospital.
Ms. Foust said the union and hospital had gone through 20 negotiation sessions over nine months without resolving the most significant issue, the workers' demand that the hospital use the union pension plan. A federal mediator is working with both parties.
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