The State - News from May 2, 1988

Vocational nurses, housekeepers and food-service workers are voting overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against seven Bay Area hospitals over proposed changes in their health care plan. According to union spokeswoman Jennifer Fleming, about 95% of the nearly 1,600 members of Local 250 of the Hospital and Healthcare Workers Union were expected to approve the strike. Under the old contract, which has expired, the hospitals paid all health benefits for the workers and their families. The new management proposal calls for workers to pay as much as $1,200 a year for health care. The workers earn an average of $10 an hour.