In Lincoln City, Samaritan hospital workers want equal pay for equal work.
At the three other Samaritan Health Services hospitals, some workers earn over 10% more than their Samaritan North Lincoln peers, according to labor union officials. That doesn’t even include benefits.
“We should be on par with our sister hospital, which is right down the street,” said Russell Lindenfelser, a sonographer at North Lincoln, referring to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital, less than 30 miles away, in Newport.
Lindenfelser has worked at the hospital for seven years, taking on responsibilities that exceed his counterparts in other Samaritan hospitals, even scheduling patients, while benefits have been cut, he said.
In all, 120 newly unionized workers -- including techs, radiologists, dietary aides, certified nursing assistants, and billing specialists -- want compensation to rival their counterparts at Samaritan Albany General Hospital, Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis and the Newport hospital.
Union officials provided a few examples of the inequities. A certified nursing assistant hired at Good Samaritan Regional starts with a wage of $12.65 an hour, 10% more than the North Lincoln entry-level CNA. The same is true for storekeepers in material management at Samaritan Pacific, where they start with a wage $12.98 an hour, which is 13% higher than at North Lincoln.
Union officials also noted North Lincoln must pay more of their own insurance costs.
The 120 North Lincoln workers joined SEIU Local 49 last November and are in the process of bargaining their first contract while the other three are already in the union.
Samaritan officials declined to release figures on what they pay workers at their four hospitals. For health insurance, workers pay between $14.47 to $15.61 per pay period for individual insurance coverage and as much as $139.51 a pay period for family coverage.
“We are committed to providing excellent patient care and to making this transition seamless for our patients and community,” said Marty Cahill, CEO Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital.
“We are making progress toward reaching a collective bargaining agreement, so wage information is still being finalized as part of the contract negotiations.”
The small rural hospital, a major employer in Lincoln City, has struggled financially, losing money from 2011 through the third quarter of 2013, the latest figures for which data are available.
At the same time, the Samaritan Health System saw its assets grow in 2012 while awarding its top executive a generous pay package worth $1.4 million, according to previous Lund Report stories analyzing the most recent financial data.
State Representative David Gomberg, who along with community members joined the workers for a May 1, rally said having high-quality medical care is important for Lincoln County, which has an above-average number of older Oregonians.
At the same time, he hoped Samaritan would be fair to the workers and the Lincoln City community.
“If the price I pay for service in North Lincoln is the same as other hospitals, but their employees here are getting paid less, than the people in Lincoln City are subsidizing the other clients in the system,” he said.
As it is, Lincoln City has a higher poverty rate than Albany, Newport or Corvallis. The fight, Gomberg added, is important to the entire community.
“Out on the coast, we say a rising tide raises all boats, and as wages increase in one sector they spend that money locally, and it affects all sectors.”
Rachel can be reached at [email protected].
