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Hillhaven Workers Strike Nursing Homes: The company said workers staged a one-day strike at nine California nursing homes, including one in Claremont in Southern California, seeking higher wages and accusing the company of inadequate staffing. Tacoma, Wash.-based Hillhaven Corp. hired replacement workers and said patient services were not affected by the strike. The strike comes 11 days after the Service Employees International Union filed a lawsuit seeking to block Hillhaven’s proposed merger with Vencor Inc., a Louisville, Ky.-based company that provides long-term hospital care for chronically ill patients. The union accused Hillhaven of misleading Vencor shareholders by inflating Hillhaven’s value in the $1.4-billion merger proposal. The company has denied the charge.