Butler Hospital management and representatives of its striking workforce returned to the bargaining table with a federal mediator for nearly six hours on Tuesday, the first negotiating session since June 5.
This time around, the union brought a larger negotiating committee, with about 150 members representing nearly every department in the hospital — up from 40 the last time.
The two sides are set to resume talks on Thursday.
Tuesday’s talks began at 12:15 p.m. and ended at 430 p.m., according to the hospital owner Care New England, which posted an update on its ButlerInfoForYou.org website.
According to the site, the union shared proposals but did not respond to “all aspects” of the hospital’s June 5th proposal.”
The hospital administration and SEIU 1199 NE — the union representing about 800 workers including mental health staff, nurses, certified nursing assistants, and support personnel — had not convened in 12 days because there was no federal mediator available to referee. The union has expressed skepticism that a third party is needed, indicating its willingness to negotiate without a mediator as it tries to secure better wages and working conditions.
“We’re always ready to bargain,” Niki Anthony, a registered nurse and a union delegate, said in a phone interview with Rhode Island Current Monday. “We’re just all working people who rearrange our lives anytime the hospital calls us in.”
Edwin Jean Louis, a union delegate who works as an intake coordinator, said in a Monday phone interview that a new federal mediator was arriving for Tuesday’s negotiations. So far, Louis said, the union has worked with two different negotiators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), a federal agency that helps to smooth out labor disputes. The independent U.S. government agency saw workforce reductions earlier this year as part of an executive order by President Donald Trump. Labor union AFL-CIO sued the administration in April over cuts to the agency, which has seen field offices closed and staff reduced.
The FMCS presided over talks between the two parties on May 29 and 30 and returned on June 4 and 5, with each negotiating session consuming nearly an entire day, according to union comments and timelines given on Butler’s website. Despite the length of sessions, the talks apparently resolved little.
The hospital’s timeline of the June 5 negotiations says management learned in the afternoon that union delegates had left the hotel where negotiations were being held, and the two parties did not reconvene until nearly 5 p.m.
Hospital management said the union emailed them a “comprehensive package proposal” after 9 p.m., and they replied to the union with their own package around 11:20 p.m. The proposal, available online, specifies a starting wage of at least $18.03 per hour for all employees, up from $17. Mental health workers would start at $20 an hour, up from $18.27.
Louis said that Butler was inaccurate for suggesting workers walked away.
“We actually went on lunch after we had given them our proposal for them to have time to go over it and either approve or deny or accept,” Louis said. “We returned, and we were there at that hotel until about 12 o’clock [that night], which is something that has been happening. We’ll meet, we’ll give our proposal, and we’ll just sit there until 10, 11 p.m., at night, and we don’t receive a response.”
A statement posted Tuesday from Mary Marran, the hospital’s president and chief operating officer, said management had already offered numerous concessions, including “double-digit wage increases,” no-premium health coverage, retirement benefits, workplace safety considerations, and a proposed four-year contract to replace the old one that expired March 31.
Marran wrote that the hospital’s negotiators returned to the bargaining table “with the same commitment we have maintained throughout these contract negotiations, to reach a fair and sustainable agreement that supports our staff and our patients.”
Community brings food
Since the strike began May 15, workers have kept a picket line outside Butler’s entrance on Blackstone Boulevard in Providence. On June 13 and 14, Butler workers staged a 30-hour sit-in outside Care New England’s headquarters. On Tuesday, the union held an informational picket at Providence Center and plans to hold another on Wednesday outside Kent Hospital, both owned by Care New England.
The sit-in on June 12 and 13 was the largest single-day turnout on the picket line to date, Anthony said. Community supporters brought food, hosted karaoke, and even set up an overnight movie screening during the sit-in, she said. Another event, a June 9 candlelight vigil outside the hospital, brought hundreds of supporters.
“There are days where we have so many donations we don’t know what to do with them,” Anthony said. “It feels really good. It keeps our spirits up.”
That’s important especially as workers cope with the loss of job-related benefits, including health insurance, Louis said.
“The community has been there to help us throughout everything, and we’ve been in solidarity, which I believe is what has kept everyone going,” Louis said.
Louis said Butler was known for its health care package — one of the amenities pulled on May 31, following an earlier May 14 recission of disability, life and accident insurance. Workers received their last paychecks on May 23. The hospital also said on June 3 it would begin replacing striking workers by filling their positions.
“Health care is very important to me because I have children,” Louis said. “If I’m not having to worry about my kid being sick, I can provide excellent care to my patients. … It puts a mental strain on you when you’re supposed to be the one providing mental health care.”
City leaders have also supported the ongoing strike. On June 4, Providence City Council President Rachel Miller proposed the city exempt striking workers from noise violations, after some were issued $500 noise violation fines. Her resolution said the fines infringed on workers’ right to peaceful protest.
Since the initial set of four noise violations were issued in late May, the city has only issued two more, said Samara Pinto, a spokesperson for Mayor Brett Smiley’s office, in an email Monday. All six violations were issued outside the Butler entrance on Blackstone.
The proposal still awaits a hearing in the Committee on Ordinances, said City Council spokesperson Marc Boyd.
As the Rhode Island House of Representatives forged its final version of the fiscal 2026 state budget Tuesday evening, Rep. David Morales, a Providence Democrat, rose in support of the workers, noting they had been on strike for over a month.
Morales said on the House floor that he hoped hospital and health care funding in the budget would “go back into the pockets of the frontline health care workers that provide care each and every single day to Rhode Islanders in need, not to the pockets of the executives within the hospitals.”
Real estate sale questioned by union
Ahead of negotiations on Tuesday, the union issued a news release pointing to a real estate transaction published Monday in the Providence Journal: a $15.7 million sale of land from Butler to Laurelmead Realty LLC, a retirement community adjacent to the hospital, on May 30. The union also noted the company reported a $1.2 million operating gain for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 — the second quarter in a row to turn more profits.
Marran, the hospital’s president and chief operating officer, addressed the land sale in a statement Tuesday, saying it was “part of a broader strategy to bolster the organization’s financial foundation and reinvest in our mission.”
That’s because the recent quarterly gains have only come “after years of operating losses,” Marran wrote. “Achieving long-term financial sustainability demands constant transformation and strategic decision-making that avoids undermining an already fragile healthcare market. Our system still faces significant challenges, including the necessity for ongoing investments in infrastructure, patient care, and workforce support.”
Marran added that employees “experiencing hardship” can contact human resources or the hospital’s employee assistance program for support. She said that the hospital has continued to allow employees access to such “vital support services.”
“We understand that emotions are high, and we are hopeful that a collaborative and respectful dialogue will lead to a resolution that works for all,” Marran wrote. “In the meantime, we thank the many employees who have returned to work and continue to provide outstanding care.”
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
