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No deal as Swedish strike and lockouts end

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Swedish Medical Center says it is welcoming back nearly 8,000 nurses and caregivers after a planned three-day strike ended Friday. Many striking workers were locked out over the weekend as temporary workers finished up five-day contracts to replace them.

There’s no word yet of any future walkouts with nurses and caregivers fighting for a new, better contract with the nonprofit Seattle-area health provider.

The strike hit Seattle campuses including First Hill, Cherry Hill, Ballard, Edmonds and Issaquah where Swedish use thousands of temporary workers to continue its services.

“As we welcome a lot of our caregivers back to the frontlines of patient care and elsewhere, we welcome them with open arms,” the hospital said in a statement released Monday morning.

The weekend lockouts came as temporary workers completed five-day minimum contracts required by the contracting agency, the Seattle Times reports a hospital spokesperson said.

The strike called by members of SEIU Local 1199NW is one of the largest hospital strikes in recent years. Service Employees International Union organizers say they are pushing for more robust staffing levels and better pay. Swedish officials say they’re offering an 11% pay raise. Talks have been underway for nearly a year.

Swedish, the largest nonprofit health provider in Seattle, established an affiliation with the much larger Catholic health services organization Providence Health in 2012 in a plan to share resources in a multi-billion dollar combination.

 

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