The plan of El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos and Mountain View, Calif., to lay off 140 employees to save money has sparked some controversy among labor groups, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Hospital officials insist the cutbacks are needed to offset declining patient activity and rising costs. Yet labor groups like the Service Employees International Union aren't convinced, highlighting that the hospital raked in a $36 million profit for the fiscal year that ended in June.
Labor unions question the layoffs--which include SEIU members--as El Camino has been profitable and its revenue is expected to increase, SEIU spokeswoman Lisa Hubbard tells the Journal.
According to union officials, using the weakened economy as justification for layoffs is simply a way for hospitals like El Camino to gain bargaining leverage over unions. "It is a little bit of positioning by hospital management," Hubbard said.
Still, El Camino CEO Ken Graham maintains that job cuts and benefit reductions are essential to curtailing $60 million in annual expenses, according to the Journal. The layoffs "are something we really need to do to best align our expenses and our revenue," added Chris Ernst, a hospital spokeswoman.
Hubbard has dismissed comments made on the Mountain View Voice's town forum that union inflexibility influenced the hospital's decision to cut jobs. Union representatives and hospital officials have been deliberating the issue for weeks, and discussions are expected to continue.
For more:
- read the Wall Street Journal article
- check out this article in Mountain View Voice