Union Plans Information Picket at NARH
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Unionized health-care workers voted unanimously last week for an informational picket and rally oustide North Adams Regional Hospital on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 24.Members of the local chapter of 1199 Service Employees Internation Union say the picketing is prompted by difficult negotiation with its parent company, Northern Berkshire Healthcare.
Negotiations between the two entities have been at loggerheads over what the union calls unreasonable demands and the hospital necessary concessions for its fiscal health.
The ailing Northern Berkshire Healthcare announced earlier this week that its facing an $8.1 million deficit. It's seeking a partnership and shedding both Sweet Brook Care Centers and Sweetwood Retirement Community in an effort to staunch the bleeding.
According to a statement from the union, executives at North Adams Regional Hospital increased a list of demands to workers from 18 to more than 100 at a contract negotiation on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Some of the new demands included eliminating maternity leave and stipulations which would put some caregivers permanently on-call while eliminating guaranteed hours for full-time employees. Caregivers say the demands could destroy jobs and hurt patient care at the hospital.
NARH spokeswoman Dianne Cutillo told iBerkshires on Nov. 6 that no demands had been made. Union officials say NARH Vice President Arthur Scott sent the demands to the union in a registered letter dated Oct. 19, 2009.
"It took 30 years to build the protections for workers and patients that we have in our contract now," said local President Michael O'Brien, a registered respiratory therapist who has worked at NARH for 32 years. "The hospital is trying to turn the clock back to a point where workers have no voice on the job at all. The members are extremely upset and are ready to show the hospital how important these protections are to us."
Union members formally rejected many of the proposals from management contract negotiating sessions the last two negotiating session. Turnout amongst union members to the sessions has been overwhelming, according to press release, and caregivers were direct and vocal in encouraging NARH executives to consider a more reasoned approach to negotiations.
The union also said that both sides gave names, titles and years of service. Of the nearly 50 union members, many had a decade or more of service, said the release, while no one negotiating for the hospital had ben there more than three years.
The next contract negotiating session is slated for Tuesday, Nov 17.
