Kaiser Workers to Stage 24-Hour Strike

Kaiser Strike

Unionized health-care workers will stage a 24-hour strike in San Diego Tuesday as part of a work stoppage at 160 Kaiser Permanente facilities statewide.

Walkouts are planned for 80 Kaiser Permanente facilities in Southern California, including the medical center in the city of San Diego, said Leighton Woodhouse, a spokesman for the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which is organizing the strike.

Kaiser officials issued a statement saying it was implementing "comprehensive contingency plans" to ensure continued care and patient safety and that all facilities would remain open during any work stoppage.

"We recognize the NUHW's legal right to conduct a strike, but we believe the bargaining table is the best place to resolve differences, and regardless of any strike activity, we continue to seek meaningful dialogue and negotiate in good faith; we hope to reach an agreement soon," according to Kaiser.

The union said the walkouts are in response to Kaiser's proposal to cut health-care and retirement benefits for thousands of NUHW members that the nonprofit HMO employs statewide, including about 2,500 in Southern California.

The NUHW is also unhappy with what union officials call chronic staffing deficiencies at Kaiser facilities and excessive compensation packages given top executives at a time when Kaiser has imposed rate increases on hundreds of thousands of California policyholders.

The NUHW, which has 4,000 members employed by Kaiser statewide, staged similar walkouts at Kaiser facilities in September.

During the September walkouts, about 200 audiologists, dieticians, health educators, social workers, speech pathologists and mental health therapists participated in San Diego.

"We expect the overwhelming majority of the folks we represent to participate," Woodhouse said.

According to the union, another 17,000 registered nurses with the California Nurses Association and another 650 members of the Stationary Engineers Local 39, all in Northern California, will be picketing at Kaiser medical centers in sympathy with the NUHW.

The NUHW gave Kaiser 10 days notice of the job action, Woodhouse said, allowing the company to make arrangements to mitigate patient risk.

"That said, it's not going to be business as usual in these facilities. The strike is going to be disruptive," he said.

Pipe Bombs

A man who pleaded guilty to having 13 pipe bombs at his home in Del Cerro is scheduled to be sentenced at the downtown San Diego courthouse Tuesday.

Scott James Martin will be sentenced to a two-year prison term in exchange for pleading guilty to five counts of possession of a destructive device in a public place.

A bomb squad removed 13 pipe bombs from Martin's home on Madra Avenue on Sept. 9. People moving out of the home found the explosive devices and notified authorities.

According to court documents, Martin's fiancee had called police a week before the bombs were found, saying that Martin was hallucinating.

Investigators later searched a home office and found components used to make bombs, including black powder and improvised flares.

A bomb technician said one of the devices contained 200 times the legal limit of a dangerous firework, according to court documents.

Martin's fiancee told police that he started making the explosive devices at home after volunteering for a fireworks company.

Hearing for Accused Appliance Thieves

A preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin at the Vista Courthouse today for 38-year-old twin brothers accused of stealing high-end appliances from vacant homes for sale.

Julio and Juan Villanueva are each facing burglary and grand theft charges. According to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, the brothers stole the appliances and tried to sell them on Craigslist.

More than $34,000 worth of appliances stolen between Nov. 17 and 19 from two for-sale residences in Fallbrook were recovered, sheriff's Sgt. Joe Montion said when the brothers were arrested last November.

The arrests came after a deputy spotted a suspicious ad on Craigslist. Undercover detectives posing as husband and wife then met with the defendants at a home in the 10200 block of Via Pastoral in Moreno Valley and identified 36 stolen appliances in the suspects' garage, Montion said.

Detectives also recovered from the home a computer that showed internet searches for homes for sale featuring high-end appliances in North County and areas of Riverside County, he said.

Julio Villanueva is also charged with possession of methamphetamine, according to jail records.

A judge will decide at the end of the preliminary hearing whether there is enough evidence to order the defendants to stand trial.

-City News Service