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On November 7, 1993, Group Health Cooperative and Virginia Mason Medical Center announce a "strategic alliance" between their two organizations. The move follows the passage of Washington's Health Services Act, passed in April 1993, which increases pressure on Group Health to lower costs. Group Health and Virginia Mason managers extol the advantages of the new alliance, while many employees question whether the alliance with Virginia Mason, which the Seattle Weekly calls "staunchly non-union," will lead to massive layoffs and decertification of existing labor representation. An organization of Group Health members called Concerned Consumers forms to oppose the alliance and "to keep Group Health true to its soul" (Crowley, 233).
Sources:
Walt Crowley, To Serve the Greatest Number: A History of Group Health Cooperative of Seattle (Seattle: GHC/University of Washington Press, 1995), 223; Austin Ross, Vision and Vigilance: the First 75 Years of Virginia Mason Medial Center (Seattle: VMMC, 1995).
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