HOSPITAL COMMISSION PRIMARY | Three candidates are vying for two spots on the November ballot. [4]
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BACK TO WORK | The Seattle Seahawks return to Renton next week to begin work on a third straight Super Bowl appearance. [Special Section]
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015
YouTube video shows Renton officer fighting with suspect Police say suspect punched officer before video starts BY BRIAN BECKLEY bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
Diane Sosne, president of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, stands with members of her union July 15 for informational picketing and a rally outside Valley Medical Center to bring attention to contract issues. DEAN A. RADFORD, Renton Reporter
Valley nurses and staff rally for support during contract dispute with hospital Valley Medical Center’s nurses and other health-care workers took to the sidewalks outside the hospital July 15, proclaiming “We’ll fight for our patients all day long.” Between 200 and 300 members of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, which represents about 1,450 workers at Valley, and their supporters walked and rallied on their own time to raise awareness about their contract dispute with Valley Medical Center. Passing motorists on Southwest 43rd Street in Renton honked in support. Theresa Braungardt, Valley’s chief nursing officer, said hospital operations
continued smoothly during the informational picketing and rally. The top issue is staffing; the union maintains patient care suffers when nurses must backfill for nurses on break or at lunch that can double the number of patients for whom they care. But also on the table are loss of a training fund, higher health-care costs, a reduction in Valley’s financial contribution to retirement and no raises for three years, according to the union. “We are not just mad, we are fired up. We are not just angry, we are inspired. We are not just irate, we are motivated,” Diane Sosne, a registered nurse and president of SEIU 1199NW, told the workers. “We are standing up for quality care
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for our patients. We are standing up for self-respect and dignity. We are standing up for our families. We are standing up for our children and our grandchildren. We are standing up for our community,” she said. Valley Medical officials won’t discuss publicly the details of negotiations, which are being conducted with a mediator. Negotiating sessions were planned for July 20 and Aug. 20. The contract expired June 30. Karyn Beckley, Valley Medical’s senior vice president of human resources and marketing, said 53 percent of Valley’s employees, including doctors and managers and other unionized employees, [ more NURSES page 14 ]
[ more VIDEO page 15 ]
Time for River Days!
The city’s annual summer festival gets underway this weekend, beginning with the parade Saturday morning downtown and running all weekend long at Liberty Park! See Page 8 for details. FILE PHOTO
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BY DEAN A. RADFORD dradford@rentonreporter.com
A potentially explosive video was uploaded to YouTube last week showing a Renton Police officer punching an unarmed man multiple times and then threatening him with pepper spray; but according to police, there is much more to the story than shown in the 1:21 video. The video shows an officer punching a non-compliant suspect until the officer literally breaks his hand before he reaches for his pepper spray as the suspect staggers to his feet and tries to run away. But according to police, what is not seen is that the suspect allegedly punched the police officer just seconds before the footage begins, all coming at the end of a larger incident and investigation of an assault. The man, Mardell Michael Schweigert, 41, of Seattle, pleaded not guilty to a charge of third-degree assault on July 9. According to police reports, the incident