Nearly 300 striking workers from Butler Hospital took to the Rhode Island State House around 2 p.m. Tuesday. The purple-clad filled the rotunda and surrounding hallways. They filled the line to get through the metal detector at the front door, and when the House and Senate floor sessions started around 4 p.m., they filled the viewing galleries in both chambers.
The throng was there to call attention to the ongoing walkout by about 800 employees of the hospital, demanding better pay and working conditions.
Before sitting quietly in the legislative chambers during the session, the workers participated in a series of chants, the collective roaring peaking at around 119 decibels when measured from the third-floor balcony by Rhode Island Current. A chainsaw, by comparison, measures about 125 decibels.
Jesse Martin, the Executive Vice President of SEIU 1199 New England, told Rhode Island Current after the rally had finished around 5 p.m. that he was confident the legislature was listening to the striking workforce of the Providence psychiatric hospital.
“I think they had no other choice but to listen today,” Martin said. “And I know that the champions for working people in this state house heard that hospital workers need to be included in how policy is set for funding our hospitals.”
On the House floor, Rep. David Bennett, a Warwick Democrat, was listening and prompted his colleagues to do the same.
“If you notice, there’s an ocean of purple above the speaker, and behind me,” said Bennett, a retired registered nurse who previously worked at Butler. He motioned to the viewing galleries stationed on opposite ends of the House chamber. “They’re fighting for fair wages, a fair contract, and I’m with you.”
Bennett was not the only lawmaker to support the strike in their State House rally. Rep. Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, was coordinating a different but adjacent casino workers’ rally the same afternoon, and she greeted the purple-clad SEIU members awaiting the security checkpoint with a smile. A big megaphone slung over her shoulder, Tanzi offered a friendly reminder to the union members to empty their pockets before reaching the metal detector.
The line to get in the State House stretched out the front door, but by the time the SEIU members had packed in, the spectacle and noise were unmissable. Over more than an hour, Senators, state employees, lobbyists, and other curious onlookers would crane their heads over the marble balustrade on the third floor, their eyes meeting a rotunda filled with purple, yellow, and signs of white and red with the tagline: “ON STRIKE. DUE TO UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES.”
About 800 unionized workers at Butler Hospital — who comprise mental health staff, nurses, clerical workers, and custodial and dietary employees — have been on strike since May 15, after contract negotiations with Care New England, the 168-bed hospital’s parent company, fizzled.
During contract negotiations, the workers pushed for higher wages, pension access for future hires, and more robust safety protocols after several years of increased workplace violence. All four of the union’s contracts with Care New England expired on March 31. The union voted to authorize a strike on April 25, and the last bargaining session was held May 7.
Days into the strike, hospital management notified workers that their health, dental, and vision coverage would conclude on May 31. Employees can elect to continue coverage through COBRA, but those costs will come out of their pockets. The last paycheck for employees will be May 23.
A mix of 44 senators and reps added their names to a May 8 letter to Butler President and CEO Mary E. Marran, which urged the hospital to resume talks with the union. Missing from that list of allies was House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi — who, immediately ahead of Tuesday’s floor session, offered his own statement on the strike.
“Having access to the critical high-quality mental health services provided at Butler Hospital is vital to so many struggling Rhode Islanders, as well as those who love them,” Shekarchi wrote. “I am calling on both the management of Butler Hospital and health care workers represented by SEIU 1199 New England to get back to the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith and come up with a fair deal. Patients, family, friends and neighbors in every Rhode Island community are being impacted by the ongoing strike at Butler Hospital. My hope is that management and the union at Butler Hospital reach a fair deal in the very near future.”
Reps. David Morales and Rebecca Kislak, both Providence Democrats, picketed alongside the workers for multiple days during the strike. Providence City Council President Rachel Miller joined the picket on Monday.
Finger-pointing over stalled talks
Care New England has maintained that it has been transparent about negotiations. The hospital set up a dedicated website with information on the contract process around Jan. 30, according to domain registration information. When bargaining stalled months later, Marran’s messages posted to the site argued that media coverage and the union narrative had skewed the reality.
Martin disputed that, saying that Butler walked away from the negotiating table.
“What comes next is, we’re going to stay on strike one day longer than Butler Hospital is willing to stand,” Martin said. “When they want to negotiate, they know our phone number.”
A Care New England spokesperson did not provide a fresh statement Tuesday, but pointed to a Monday comment from Marran: “Despite SEIU 1199 NE taking its members off the job, Butler Hospital remains open for business. While we would prefer to have our own employees working with patients, we have highly qualified replacement workers here who will continue to be here, fulfilling Butler’s essential role in the community by providing vital behavioral health services.”
“Our team will be here when the union decides it is ready to come back to the table and work toward a solution,” Marran continued.
The Butler strike emerges during a volatile stretch for Rhode Island’s hospital finances, as shown by hospital leaders ramping up advocacy this legislative session amid shifting federal rules and chronically underfunded Medicaid reimbursement rates. Another example of ailing hospital finances can be found in a recent study by Brown University researchers, which found that the state’s 2010 hospital price-growth cap cut average commercial prices by 9% — a win for some consumers, but one that has cost hospitals about $158.3 million since the regulation took effect, researchers estimated.
Jillian Scott, a Hospital Association of Rhode Island spokesperson, said via email that the coalition does not provide official commentary on labor negotiations, but she did relay a statement from Interim President Howard Dulude on what can be done policywise.
“Right now, Rhode Island’s health care system is in crisis, and hospitals face ongoing financial pressures in delivering high-quality care and supporting their workforce,” Dulude wrote. “Continued collaboration with the legislature on the 2026 State Budget is critical to ensure hospitals have the resources needed to invest in staff and meet the health care needs of Rhode Islanders.”
Martin agreed that hospitals aren’t getting enough money, but he wasn’t sure the money should be going toward “CEO pay and CEO golden parachutes.”
“It’s really hard to take someone seriously when they make multiple millions of dollars in salary, but most of their workers live in poverty on state assistance,” Martin said. “That seems to be hypocritical.”
Martin said he believes the General Assembly is largely sympathetic to union needs, but urged lawmakers to “first put themselves in the shoes of a health care worker,” and allocate Medicaid dollars to hospitals with guardrails in place. Martin cited a 2022 infusion of $75 million to nursing homes and hospitals from the General Assembly, but argued that money didn’t reach unionized workers like those at Butler.
“A hospital repaid themselves for the overtime that workers had already worked,” Martin said. “They used that money to buy them pizza. I’m sorry, but pizza doesn’t lift people out of poverty. Might fill your belly for a meal, but it doesn’t fill your belly for a lifetime.”
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
