Health

Tri-City Health Workers Rally For Jobs In Oceanside

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published September 24, 2015 at 5:53 AM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

Employees protest against Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, Sept. 24, 2015.

Workers at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside plan to rally Thursday.

Their labor union, Service Employees International Union, said the Medical Center plans to outsource 460 jobs, which would mean more staff turnover, less training and reduced pay and benefits.

Sean Wherley of United Healthcare Workers West said if the health system is looking to cut costs, it should consider executive salaries, which he said add up to $1.75 million for the top five executives.

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“There’s no reason to be paying executives at a public hospital that much, and at the same time trying to get rid of good paying jobs at a time when we need more of them not fewer of them,” he said.

David Bennett, spokesman for Tri-City, said the Medical Center is not proposing to outsource jobs except as fill-in when temporary workers are needed. He said executive pay at Tri City has not risen in the last three years, and CEO Tim Moran's salary is lower than that of former CEO Larry Anderson. Moran was hired last year.

The protest, scheduled for 12:30 p.m., is part of ongoing labor negotiations at Tri City.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.