Butler Hospital’s unionized nurses, social workers, mental health and support staff voted Tuesday to reject the “last, best, and final” contract offer that management had submitted two and a half weeks ago.
The Providence psychiatric hospital, owned by Care New England and about 800 workers represented by SEIU 1199 NE have been unable to reach a new contract since the previous agreement expired March 31. The union has been on strike since May 15.
According to a post on the union’s blog, 98% of workers voted to reject the contract Care New England offered on July 11.
Butler posts its contract proposals on a website it made earlier this year. For the July 11 proposal, the hospital touted “double-digit raises,” such as an 11.8% increase for dietary and housekeeping staff. Many of those wages, however, remained at a little over $18 an hour.
That proposal did include a suite of other benefits, such as a $10 daily meal credit for dietary staff, and no change in pension and retirement benefits. It offers $0 paycheck deductions for individual health coverage under both the HSA and Network Blue plans. Wage increases were more generous for clinical employees, with starting wages for mental health workers beginning at $21.79 and registered nurses starting at around $36 an hour. There were also step increases for wages depending on staff seniority and experience.
The union criticized management’s plan to gradually reduce its contributions to employees’ HSAs (Health savings accounts), arguing it would put staff with chronic health problems or “already cash-strapped members” in danger of incurring medical debt. Under the July 11 proposal, the hospital’s contributions toward the HSAs would start at 25% in 2026 and decrease over time.
The union has made its own proposals to the hospital, but details have not been made public.
“The union’s proposal would increase cost sharing of the plan in an affordable way,” the post from the union stated.
Sean Seery, a nutrition associate at the hospital who’s worked there for 14 years, said in a statement that he would get a 16% raise, which he said would equal “less than 80 cents an hour for some of us.”
“Combined with the higher healthcare costs this actually moves us backward,” Seery said. “No one can afford to survive in this economy for less than $20 an hour, especially if you have kids. That is why I am voting no on this offer.”
The union argues that Butler’s proposed $18 starting wage for its lowest-paid workers won’t suffice within the context of Rhode Island’s high cost of living. That lowest level of wage, which amounts to about $37,440 annually in the union’s estimate, would eat up nearly two-thirds of a worker’s income with housing and transportation costs factored in.
“Let’s be clear, this is not a decision somebody is making for us,” Dawn Williams, a Butler nurse, said in a video within Wednesday’s post. “Every striking Butler caregiver, from dietary to nursing, has a say, and every single vote counts.”
The union has constructed a new platform for sharing its side of the hospital strike, which union leaders say is the longest in state history. The domain WeAreButler.Org was created on June 23, according to registrar data, and it now contains a sampling of worker testimonials talking about Tuesday’s vote.
“I voted no, passionately no,” said Brooke Huminski, a social worker in the inpatient assessment center, “Because this contract does not offer us what we need to be able to take care of our patients, which we love and want to get back to doing.”
Disputing SEIU claim that Butler execs refused to meet
Mike Raia, president of Half Street Group and a spokesperson for Butler Hospital, responded to the union’s vote in a statement Wednesday.
Raia claimed that “SEIU’s professional organizers and political executives” are exerting additional strain on the state’s health care system by keeping members on strike.
Union leaders “instructed members to reject Butler’s market-leading proposal,” Raia wrote, rather than share “objective details” with membership. He criticized union leaders for prioritizing the elevation of “their political stature and personal profiles” over frontline workers.
“The facts are simple: Butler’s proposal would provide union employees with highest-in-market starting wages for nurses and a starting wage for mental health workers that is 25 percent higher than the regional average,” Raia said.
He added that the proposal would see hospital workers earn a minimum wage that is 20% higher than the state minimum wage of $15.
Let’s be clear, this is not a decision somebody is making for us. Every striking Butler caregiver, from dietary to nursing, has a say, and every single vote counts.
Raia reiterated that the union employees “can return to work whenever they wish and will be welcomed back” by management.
The spokesman also defended the hospital against union allegations that management has refused to meet — a claim made as recently as a July 21 video from SEIU. Raia called those allegations “categorically false.”
“[Care New England CEO] Michael Wagner and [Butler President] Mary Marran have both met in person with SEIU officials on multiple occasions since the start of July (including several meetings after Butler presented its July 11 proposal),” Raia wrote. “The content of those meetings were off-the-record but it is not at all accurate for SEIU to claim Butler has refused to meet.”
Wagner himself took to the opinion pages on Wednesday with the publication of an editorial in the Cranston Herald.
“The offer on the table from Butler is the strongest behavioral health care contract proposal in Rhode Island history, and it surpasses the recently ratified Rhode Island Hospital/UNAP agreement in nearly every meaningful way,” Wagner wrote.
He was referring to the contract ratified between Brown University Health and the nurses’ union at two of its hospitals on July 17.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
