Workers at Seton Medical Center and Seton Coastside began 2024 furious with the hospital’s owner. AMHC Healthcare had eliminated their free health plan and replaced it with a plan that included barely any doctors or hospitals close to home. Many workers had to cross a bridge to access care.
It was the spark that ignited a months-long fight, in which hundreds of workers participated in a two-day strike, marched on their bosses, and met with public officials demanding a fair contract and real health insurance for healthcare workers.
Ultimately they won back quality health coverage as part of a new three-year contract with 16 percent wage increases, as well as a $1,000 bonus to settle a grievance over illegal healthcare reductions.
Among the many combatants was Kimberly Abalos, a respiratory care practitioner who has worked at Seton Medical Center for the past three years and became a union steward in October 2023, just as the workers in her bargaining unit were beginning to negotiate their new contract.
“I’m not afraid to speak up,” said Abalos, whom coworkers often turn to for help whenever they encounter a workplace issue. “They know I’ll do whatever I can to get something done.”
Such determination was crucial in the contract negotiations and union actions as workers pushed back against the takeaways.
Abalos uses her husband’s health insurance and was not affected by the switch, but she saw the pain it caused her coworkers.
“They were stressed. They were putting off procedures because they didn’t know if the insurance was going to pay for them,” she said. “They were worried about their own medical care.”
Abalos stood with them during the work stoppage, where she was pleased to see several elected and community leaders present.
Those actions, she said, showed AHMC she and her coworkers would never back down.
“They realized that we were serious and not just going to roll over, which I think they were hoping that we would do,” she said.
Abalos also took part in the tough and demanding rounds of contract negotiations for the service and tech unit, which includes medical technicians, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, food service aides, and licensed vocational nurses who also showed up in large numbers.
“We put up a fight. There were a lot of people in the negotiation meetings,” Abalos said.
Such defiance eventually prompted the hospital CEO to attend the slow-moving negotiations, and they started making progress towards a resolution.
“He was getting second- or third-hand information and nothing was happening,” Abalos said. “When he showed up, we were able to look him in the eye. We weren’t bashful. We told him what needed to happen.”
Abalos said the contract they won is much better from when they first started, but there’s still room for improvement, both to wages and the health plan.
Kimberly has learned a lot from helping bargain a contract, but she still loves her day-to-day duties, helping defend her colleagues and defend their contract as a steward.
“I don’t know everything, so it’s good to have our union representative who knows more when we meet with Human Resources,” she said.
She also likes the camaraderie she builds with union members from other departments that she normally doesn’t work with.
“The union gives you a connection to people that you would not have had before,” she said. “It feels good to have that support.”
