Riverside Hospital, Healthcare Union reach tentative agreement, avoid walkout

RIVERSIDE (CNS) - A planned walkout involving more than 300 unionized healthcare workers at a west Riverside hospital will not go forward as planned today, following word that a tentative collective bargaining agreement was cinched. Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West had announced Monday that all 334 members working at Doctors Hospital of Riverside would be taking to the picket lines at 6 this morning for a 24-hour strike to raise awareness about problems with staffing, low wages and other issues under negotiation. However, as of Wednesday afternoon, negotiators for SEIU-UHW and hospital owner AHMC in Alhambra reached a compromise that included concessions that the union was seeking, according to officials. One of the key elements of the