
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 17, 1994                   TAG: 9411170102
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HOSPITAL BOYCOTT URGED

The Roanoke Central Labor Council is asking its member unions to encourage a boycott of Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem and any affiliated facilities. The action is in support of the hospital's maintenance workers, who voted in January to become part of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 387 but still don't have a contract.

The central council represents several thousand workers, said James E. Wright of the Carpenters and Millwrights Local 319.

"We realize some older people might not be able to change doctors, but we're asking members who can to not patronize any of the Lewis-Gale hospitals or clinics," he said Wednesday.

Lewis-Gale is owned by Columbia/HCA Healthcare of Louisville, Ky., and is part of the Southwest Virginia Health Alliance, which includes Lewis-Gale Clinic and medical facilities in Wise, Pulaski, Montgomery and Henry counties.

In a written statement, the hospital said it has had 21 meetings with the union but has been unable to reach agreement on "many fundamental issues." It said negotiations deadlocked Tuesday when the union told the hospital it would not make any changes in its proposals until the hospital made some changes.

"While the hospital feels the union's insistence on unrealistic and unreasonable demands is responsible for the breakdown in negotiations, it does not believe that discussing the specifics ... in the media will advance the negotiations," the statement said.

On July 18, the Operating Engineers' union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board that Lewis-Gale had made unilateral changes in paid time off and had warned one worker and threatened to "more strictly enforce" work rules because of the union vote.

The changes in time off had nothing to do with negotiations and are being rescinded, said Ron Yost, a supervisory examiner with the NLRB regional office in Winston-Salem, N.C. The hospital and union signed an agreement last month in which the employee warning and threat were acknowledged, but there was no finding of bad-faith bargaining, Yost said.

by CNB