Coalition

A coalition representing health-care workers and consumers has predicted a "devastating outcome" in today's scheduled auction of Allegheny health system's Philadelphia operations. The coalition yesterday called on the judge presiding over the Allegheny bankruptcy to postpone the auction so interested parties could try to find a solution fair to patients, communities, health-care employees and creditors. A spokeswoman for Coalition for Patients Not Profits said the auction could result in thousands of layoffs, precipitate a regional health-care crisis and allow the winning bidder to acquire more than $2 billion worth of assets for as little as 10 cents on the dollar.

A coalition of Philadelphia-area civil and human rights organizations came together yesterday to announce their support for the 1990 Civil Rights Act pending in Congress. The organizations - black, Latino, Asian and Jewish - issued a statement saying that the legislation "will be a major step toward making our nation's workplaces free from racial, ethnic and gender discrimination. " The statement went on to say: "Contrary to what its critics maintain, this bill will not create a quota system.

Solidarity officials, savoring their near-unanimous sweep of the freest elections in Eastern Europe since the end of World War II, yesterday turned down the Polish government's proposal that the movement join the communists in a coalition government. "This certainly is not in the cards," said Solidarity spokesman Janusz Onyszkiewicz. He said candidates elected on the Solidarity slate intended to stay in opposition to the ruling Polish United Workers Party. Joining the government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski now would be "breaking promises" made to voters, he added.

ROME - Center-left leader Enrico Letta forged a new Italian government Saturday in a coalition with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives, an unusual alliance of bitter rivals that broke a two-month political stalemate from inconclusive elections in the recession-mired country. The daunting achievement was pulled off by Letta, who will be sworn in as prime minister along with the cabinet Sunday. Letta, 46, is a moderate with a reputation as a political bridge-builder.

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached a deal Thursday to form a coalition government, but a last-minute snag over the title of his new partners kept the plan from being formalized for at least a day. The new government is expected to try to curb years of preferential treatment for the country's ultra-Orthodox minority and may push for renewed Mideast peace efforts. But the late-hour disagreement reflects the challenges Netanyahu could face keeping his new coalition intact.

The FBI says a woman is three times more likely to be beaten senseless in her home by her husband or boyfriend than in a dark alley by a stranger. So frequent, in fact, is the domestic version of violence and terror that nearly half of the Philadelphians polled in a recent survey said they personally know someone who is a victim of such abuse. The Philadelphia Coalition on Domestic Violence estimates that 40,000 women were abused in the city in 1985. Yet most of those polled were unaware that spousal abuse violates state law, according to the coalition, which conducted the survey.

Postponing the SEPTA strike, it now seems, was the easy part. Now the NAACP and a coalition of community groups face the daunting task of building on their surprising success during a two-week extension of talks between the Transit Workers Union and SEPTA brass. The issue, of course, is money. And cooperation between the opposing sides hinges on the coalition's ability to bridge the economic gap without taking cash out of either side's pockets. So facing a tapped-out Rendell administration and a governor committed to steering clear of the dispute, coalition leaders yesterday sought to build consensus in the state Legislature, which ultimately determines allocation of state funds.

The rival parties in Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration announced a deal yesterday that will permit both sides to elect a new leader and keep their unlikely coalition from falling apart. The Protestants of the Democratic Unionist Party and the Catholics of Sinn Fein said they would jointly elect new leaders to the coalition today. The election is necessary because the administration's leader, First Minister Ian Paisley, is stepping down and handing the top job to Finance Minister Peter Robinson.

A coalition of groups concerned with heating aid for the poor is trying to put some political heat on Gov. Casey, to extend Friday's deadline for low- income people to seek help with their fuel and utility bills. "The decision to close the program will mean hundreds, perhaps thousands more will be forced to live without heat, water, electricity, the basic necessities of life," said Lance Haver, a spokesman for the Consumers Education and Protective Association. The program is known as LIHEAP - Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

THE CONVENTIONAL wisdom in the American foreign policy establishment is that the United States cannot go to war without a coalition. That's what Leslie Gelb, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, argued on the "Charlie Rose" show last week. He said the coalition must include moderate Arab countries. That is wrong. That last thing America needs, or should seek, is a broad international coalition. America has been attacked. The Pentagon was bombed; thousands died in an air strike on New York City.