St. Joe’s Healthcare Workers Complain of ‘Substandard Working Conditions’ and ‘Poverty Wages’

CapturePress release from St. Joseph’s Service and Technical Workers, members of the  National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW):

Hospital service and technical workers will be on the Gazebo sharing information, answering questions, and providing first-hand accounts of the substandard working conditions at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna. Workers seek more public support, as they are currently engaged in a struggle for decent wages, better working conditions, and, ironically, affordable health insurance.

St. Joe’s Health System, which operates the Eureka and Fortuna hospitals, underpays its workers in Humboldt, with wages far below industry and regional standards, leaving caregivers unable to cover basic living expenses. These poverty wages cause significant harm to its workforce and surrounding communities, and plays a huge role in impoverishing the local economy.

Many St. Joseph caregivers, even those with years of service at these hospitals, struggle to support families while working full time and must rely on public assistance to make ends meet.  St. Joe’s pays its top executive in the millions (the equivalent of $1,000 an hour), and while St. Joe’s hospitals in Humboldt pay no taxes and reported almost $100 million in profit over the past 4 years, the workers who keep these hospitals functional (i.e. nursing assistants, housekeepers, transporters, lab assistants), make substandard wages between $10.90 and $12 an hour. See the report, Uncompensated Care: How St. Joseph’s Low Wages Leave Caregivers Behind at http://nuhw.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Uncompensated-Care-St-Joseph-Humboldt-County.pdf

Who: St. Joseph’s Service and Technical Workers, members of the  National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW)

When: Saturday, November 7, 6 p.m. at Arts Alive!

Where: Old Town Gazebo, 2nd and F Streets, Eureka CA 95501

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17 Comments
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BG
Guest
BG
8 years ago

St. Joes should be ashamed of what they pay their workers!

hmm
Guest
hmm
8 years ago
Reply to  BG

And what they profit from serving the community.

Wildcat
Guest
Wildcat
8 years ago

It’s employment at will. The employees are free to move on if they’re unhappy with their employment situation.

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
8 years ago
Reply to  Wildcat

How wonderful! And who will take their place? Poorly qualified, poorly motivated, poorly paid workers? Is that who you want taking care of YOU or YOURS in the hospital? Wages will go up when folks start dying? Is that it? I guess we don’t have to wonder what happened to the American middle class. Thanks, wildcat. For nothing.

Homer Cat
Guest
Homer Cat
8 years ago

I spent 2 days in the hospital in Fortuna a few years ago and it was over 50,000 dollars for elective surgery.For the money they charge they should be able to raise the dead.They need to pay the help twice as much!

Homer Cat
Guest
Homer Cat
8 years ago
Reply to  Homer Cat

No moderation but a whole lot more.

G-ma
Guest
G-ma
8 years ago

They pay and treat their employees like shit!!!!my mom was in there for 6 months because she got so many infections,from unhealthy conditions,so sad I won’t go there for anything.they should have used all that money from building it up to hire more nurses and Doctors.so dumb look what we now have shit.

The Witch DR.
Guest
The Witch DR.
8 years ago

OOH, EE, OOH, AH, AH, TING-TANG, WALLA-WALLA BING-BING-BANG!

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
8 years ago
Reply to  The Witch DR.

By jove, I think you’ve got it, ancient one. You one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater, you.

The Witch DR.
Guest
The Witch DR.
8 years ago

Put the lime in the coconut and call me in the morning! Sometimes it feels pretty third world up here!

Grumpy
Guest
Grumpy
8 years ago

I went to RMH ER and had 3 X rays of my hand ,got a bill for $2,750.00.. they suck

hmm
Guest
hmm
8 years ago

Its a Christian hospital, so shouldn’t all the workers do their jobs for a room to stay in and a ration of porridge?
Jesus wouldn’t have charged anything to heal people. Considering that, how does the hospital justify charging anyone, especially the poor?

hmm
Guest
hmm
8 years ago

Is this different than other hospitals? Is mad river better in this regard?

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
8 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Don’t know about the whole hospital, but the Mad River MRI department is run like a cereal box top redemption center for de-coder rings. Zero consciousness that they are an integral cog in medical diagnosis; that people are awaiting alleviation of suffering, possibly even survival. Another vastly overpaid executive, I’m sure.

Julie
Guest
Julie
8 years ago

A few years ago several nurses were pretty sick from the mold at St Joe’s, but the administration told them too bad. They wouldn’t do anything about the mold or to help the people made sick from it. I think about six nurses ended up just leaving. A family friend inspects hospitals all over the state and says St Joe’s is at the very bottom.

hmm
Guest
hmm
8 years ago

I saw an er doctor in palm springs once, saw him for 5 minutes or less (I had a common infection from shaving, he pulled a fact sheet out of the drawer and wrote me a prescription, only after accusing me of being a meth user because at first glance he thought I had an abscessed tooth.) My bill was over $1000 dollars!

Bluedog
Guest
Bluedog
8 years ago

Their non-profit status should be questioned if they make $100 million profit. They are no better than Walmart paying poverty wages and forcing the government to subsidize their employees with taxpayer’s assistance while their overpaid execs run to the bank with cash.