LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tenet Healthcare Corp., which has resisted efforts to organize hospital workers, has agreed to allow two unions to conduct organizing campaigns and hold union elections at 28 company facilities in California and two in Florida. þþIf nurses and other workers at the hospitals vote to be represented by the Service Employees International Union or the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, they would be guaranteed pay raises of 8 percent in the first year and 7 percent in each of the next three years. þþThe Santa Barbara-based company is under scrutiny on several fronts from regulators, lawmakers and others over Medicare reimbursement charges and its hospital rates. þþÿNormally (Tenet) would want to contest unionization, but they need good labor relations right now,ÿ said Nancy Weaver, an analyst at Stephens Inc., in Little Rock, Ark. ÿThis agreement is going to cost Tenet more money than it would like, but peace with the unions is an intangible that you can't put a value on.ÿ þþTenet is the nation's second largest hospital chain. It operates 40 hospitals in California and employs 35,000 workers in the state.þ
Source: AP
