Butler Hospital’s unionized workforce declared Tuesday that they made “movement” on wages and health plan costs to hospital owner Care New England during hours of negotiations last week.
Care New England CEO Michael Wagner chose a different noun for the union’s counterproposal in an email he wrote last week: “Ultimatum.”
The disconnect between management and the Providence psychiatric hospital’s roughly 700 members of SEIU 1199NE was apparent as members of the union’s bargaining committee held a Tuesday morning press conference outside the facility’s Blackstone Boulevard entrance.
Asked by reporters if any bargaining talks were planned in the next week, registered nurse and bargaining committee member Dawn Williams said, “Right now, we do not have anything scheduled.”
Members of the union bargaining committee said they met for 18 hours on Aug. 6 with a federal mediator and Butler’s negotiating team. As day wound into night, union members said they offered two counterproposals in the spirit of settling the dispute. But at 3 a.m., union members said that the hospital team walked away from the bargaining table.
“The process of coming up with the last two proposals that we did on Wednesday was…very painful,” Williams said. “It was very difficult because these aren’t numbers on a page. They represent a real impact on our people, our members, their lives, and their families.”
The strike will reach the 90-day mark this Friday, and is purported to be the longest hospital labor strike in state history. The hospital and union’s relationship soured after the March 31 expiration of the four contracts that covered Butler’s SEIU 1199NE members. Despite months of sporadic negotiations, plus the involvement of federal labor mediators, including in the most recent session, the two sides have not yet found a common ground to stand on.
Tuesday’s press conference marked the first public, collective statement from the union since Butler announced Friday it would soon close an additional 29 beds in its addiction and detox unit.
Williams and other members of the Butler workforce’s bargaining committee emphasized they want to return to work but vowed the strike will continue as long as the hospital continues to propose what the union sees as inadequate compensation for the lowest-paid workers, such as clerical, dietary and sanitation staff. The starting pay would be $18.03 for these workers in the most recent hospital proposal from July 11. Union members voted to reject that proposal on July 29.
“Our last two counterproposals brought us within $1.2 million, over four years, between our wage proposal and the employer’s proposal,” said Courtney Threats, a social worker and bargaining team member. “That’s $300,000 a year.”
Brooke Huminski, a social worker in the inpatient assessment center, told reporters that, in their latest counterproposal, the union was willing to accept a monthly premium of $110 monthly for workers with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
“That is considerable movement on a plan that I deeply value,” Huminski said, citing her own experience with a chronic illness that she was able to get adequate care for — without excessive medical debt — thanks to her employee health insurance.
“We understand the cost of health care is rising all around us, so we’re willing to pay a little bit more to have a really good health insurance plan as well as to get this done,” Huminski said. “It’s been 90 days. Why are we still out here? We are ready to go back to work.”
“We’re ready to get back to work,” Williams echoed. “We’re ready to do the work that needs to be done to get a proposal. We are ready, but where are they? Why did they walk away? Why aren’t they ready? Why aren’t Butler Hospital and Care New England ready?”
Williams continued: “The answer is because it’s never been about money for them. It’s about power and greed. They want it all.”
Care New England says union walked back progress
Hillary Lima, a spokesperson for Butler, said Tuesday afternoon that the hospital did not have any comment on the union’s morning press event, nor did she confirm whether the beds in Butler’s addiction unit are officially shuttered.
But Care New England CEO Michael Wagner certainly had a take on the Aug. 6 bargaining talks, per an email he sent to colleagues inside and outside his hospital system.
Wagner’s Aug. 7 email, obtained by Rhode Island Current last week, tells a different side to the story. Wagner wrote that by 3 a.m., the union had reversed any progress made earlier in the day by giving “an ultimatum to accept a narrow and costly set of wage increases.”
“Critically, we were not given the opportunity to negotiate on other elements of the contract that might have allowed us to maintain a financially sustainable agreement,” Wagner wrote. “At that point, it became clear that SEIU was no longer negotiating in good faith and had abandoned any meaningful effort to reach an agreement.”
The union, Wagner argued, “was intent on shifting the goal posts” in the most recent bargaining session.
A Butler website also noted in an Aug. 7 post that the bargaining talks lasted 15 hours, not 18.
Mike Raia, also a spokesperson for Butler, has previously denied the claim of absent leadership and said in an Aug. 5 email that Wagner and Butler President and Chief Operating Officer Mary Marran attended multiple bargaining sessions with union leaders.
Typically, Raia added, the hospital’s bargaining team has full authority to reach an agreement, and it’s normal for these teams to represent employers in collective bargaining talks.
“The content of those (July) meetings were off-the-record but it is not at all accurate for SEIU to claim Butler has refused to meet,” Raia also said in a July 30 email.
Outside the hospital, Williams volleyed the responsibility of making the next move back toward management.
“They have the ball,” she said. “It’s their turn. It is their turn to make a move. We’ve made moves. It is their turn. They have the ball, they have our proposal. It is their turn.”
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
