Unionized workers at Butte, Mont.-based St. James Healthcare have taken a strike vote, according to a report by The Montana Standard.
Teamsters Local No. 2 represents 107 employees at the health system. The vote took place, but the strike could be avoided if a scheduled mediation session in September is successful, according to the report.
The issue stems from potential wage increases. According to the report, St. James offered its nurses a 3 percent raise earlier this month. The union wants the same raise as the nurses in addition to longevity steps — incremental increases on a salary matrix, according to the report — to be restored.
St. James officials say the system offered the same wage increase to the Teamsters employees as it did to its nurses. A union official says the hospital wants the union to use money from the wage increase to "buy back" the longevity steps, leaving a wage increase of less than 3 percent, according to the report.
The mediation session is scheduled for Sept. 19.
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