Boston union picks up Carney Hospital workers

By Christine McConville
Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Caregivers at the Carney Hospital in Dorchester yesterday agreed to join the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union.

With Wednesday’s vote, 500 Carney workers - including respiratory therapists, radiology technicians, licensed practical nurses, housekeepers and dietary workers - are now part of 1199SEIU, one of the nation’s fastest-growing labor unions.

“This has been a long time coming, and we are thrilled,” Kathy Riley, a nuclear medicine technician, said in a statement.

Some 79 percent of the targeted Carney workers voted for unionizing, organizers said.

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Hospital workers say yes to union
Caritas Carney is second in Catholic chain to join SEIU

By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | June 11, 2009

Nearly 500 workers at Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester will join the Service Employees International Union, making it the second Caritas Christi Health Care hospital to unionize this spring.

In April, more than 800 employees at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, the flagship of the six-hospital chain, voted to affiliate with the same labor union, Local 1199 of SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.

Excerpt from Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who supported SEIU in its successful effort to unionize home health workers last year, said in a statement, “Caregivers perform one of the most critical roles in helping the sick, but their services are some of the most undervalued. Through this commitment between Caritas Christi and 1199SEIU, everyone involved in delivering quality healthcare to the people of Boston will benefit.”

Dr. Ralph de la Torre, chief executive of Caritas Christi, also hailed the agreement. “We’re breaking down fences,” he said. “This is a new era of cooperation.”

The service employees union now represents about 900 employees in Caritas Christi’s Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, while the Area Trades Council - which also signed the agreement - represents about 35 employees at the chain’s flagship, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston.

The service employees union launched an effort to unionize Boston’s large hospitals about two years ago. The campaign has focused largely on Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. SEIU’s goal is to unionize the entire hospital, rather than just individual trades, such as electricians or nurses.

Strategically, the union has sought to mobilize public opinion against Beth Israel, as opposed to just campaigning to win over employees. It has run advertisements critical of Beth Israel and has targeted its chief executive, Paul Levy.

Mike Fadel, executive vice president of 1199SEIU, said about half of Caritas Christi’s 13,000 employees could ultimately be organized.

Asked if a union workforce would translate into higher wages, Fadel said, “This could lead to improvements in general for patients, for workers, for the healthcare system, and the community.”

He also hinted that Caritas Christi might benefit from the union’s political might.

“We will work jointly around issues like healthcare funding,” Fadel said.

That could mean joint lobbying for increased payment from MassHealth, the state and federal Medicaid program that provides medical coverage for low-income and disabled patients.

The agreement to be unveiled today is not unique. The SEIU local signed a similar agreement with a large group of hospitals in the New York City area about 10 years ago, and in 2006, it signed a pact with Cape Cod Healthcare, which has two hospitals.

The success of the agreement with Caritas Christi will depend largely on the economy, said Jeff Toner, principal of Dietz Creative Communications, a Kennebunk, Maine, firm that advises hospitals and unions on organizing issues.

A coalition of three dozen social service, healthcare, labor, and legal groups - dubbed Put Patients First - is mailing 100,000 Boston area voters a flier about the specific effect of recent cuts to Boston Medical Center and Cambridge Health Alliance. The two institutions serve a large share of the region’s low-income residents and, hospital officials say, are suffering from disproportionate state budget cuts.

Click here for the full article. (PDF)

Boston Globe - Home care workers vote union-negotiated pact
Boston Globe - SEIU wins pact for 25,000 home care workers
Boston Herald - Care workers get 15% raise
Worcester T&G - Attendants OK their first contract
Cape Cod Times - Union contract boosts health aides
New Bedford Standard Times - Union helps struggling PCAs
New Bedford Standard Times - Help for the Helpers
Patriot Ledger - Thousands of personal care attendants to get raises and health insurance under new contract
Bureau of National Affairs - 1199SEIU negotiates first contract for 25,000 Massachusetts home aides

Dozens of prominent Boston physicians, including two Nobel Prize winners, have asked Boston-area hospital administrators to let their workers freely vote on unionizing efforts.

In a full-page advertisement in yesterday’s Boston Herald, 34 area physicians added their voices to a growing chorus of people who say that hospital workers should be allowed to decide if they want to unionize.

Union officials say hospital administrators have used intimidation tactics to prevent hospital workers from such votes.

Yesterday, the doctors - many of whom are now retired - agreed.

“Several hospitals in the Boston area have a long history of intimidating and coercing hospital workers” when it comes to union drives, the doctors wrote.

Dr. Patricia Downs Berger, a retired internist, said she has asked hospital administrators to allow nursing assistants, respiratory therapists and other care-givers to vote on unionizing, because “the motivation is social justice.

“It’s not to get at the hospitals,” she said.

“We just want to ensure that workers have a fair shake, because it’s the big people at the hospitals, and the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies that have the power.”

For more than a year, Service Employees International Union District 1199 has waged its very public battle against Boston hospital administrators.

Union organizers say that with unions, health-care workers would have access to better, more affordable health care, and patients would receive better treatment because unions would create a more collaborative environment.

They have accused the hospital administrators of using health-care dollars to squelch the union efforts.

If the union efforts are successful, tens of thousands of Bostonians could be affected, because one of every six Boston jobs is in a hospital setting.

Yesterday’s full-page ad delighted the embattled caregivers, said Mike Fadel, SEIU District 1199’s executive vice president.

“Caregivers are seeing that the doctors are not just supporting them at work, but publicly as well,” he said.

Russ Davis, executive director of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, which co-sponsored the ad, said the physician’s letter sends a new message to hospital administrators.

“It says that not only is the community in general watching you, the medical community is watching you, too,” he said.

The Jewish Labor Committee supports 1199SEIU’s and the Area Trades Council’s efforts to refocus Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on its mission to serve its community, treat patients compassionately, and foster a work environment based on mutual respect and collaboration. We know that patients receive better care when a hospital administration values its workers and treats them with respect.

Click here to read the rest of the letter (PDF).

The “Eye on B.I.” public information campaign will utilize a variety of media and grassroots organizing components to reach hospital patients and taxpayers.  Those components will include a massive advertising blitz, including signs and mobile billboards, a new interactive website, http://www.EyeOnBI.org, and other public outreach activities in the coming days.

EyeOnBI.org has been created by people who believe in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s mission of  “service to community,” treating “ patients compassionately,” and fostering a work environment based on “mutual respect and collaboration.” Both the former Beth Israel and Deaconess hospitals have proud histories. Many of us have received loving care at these institutions over the years. Together, these institutions have offered generations of family members both employment and quality care.

Click here for press release

Contrary to BIDMC’s CEO’s stated commitment to transparency and openness, administration uses heavy handed tactic to end conversations about unionization

Boston, MA – Union supporters were confronted by armed security officers who ordered them to stop handing out union leaflets in the public cafeterias of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s two main cafeterias during lunchtime today.

“The absolutely over the top use of armed guards to intimidate workers from reading a leaflet about unionizing and having a conversation during lunchtime is offensive to anyone who believes in free speech and the rights of working people,” said 1199SEIU Executive Vice President Mike Fadel. “It’s ironic that this conduct is from BIDMC’s CEO Paul Levy, who has portrayed himself as someone who believes in openness and transparency. He should be ashamed.”

 At about 11:45am, union supporters began peacefully distributing leaflets in the cafeterias of the BIDMC West and East campuses. Within minutes, security officers, including armed officers, descended on them in a show of force, in front of scores of shocked hospital workers. The guards confronted the union supporters, and ordered them to leave or face immediate arrest. And they said they would immediately arrest and jail any of the supporters who entered the hospital ever again. Photos taken in both cafeterias are attached. Additional images are available at www.FairUnionElections.org.

Levy’s actions conflict with the public image he has attempted to cultivate on his own blog, where he has argued that he does not need to sign a code of conduct agreement with any union pledging that he will not use intimidation and coercion, because he is already committed to open discourse among his employees. See attached fact sheet.

With endorsements from Mayor Thomas M. Menino and most Greater Boston Area city, state and federal elected officials and a unanimous Boston City Council resolution, healthcare workers are asking hospital CEOs to agree to an enforceable code of conduct. Under a free and fair union election code of conduct, caregivers would be free to make up their own minds about forming a union, free from management intimidation and coercion, under fair secret ballot voting conditions. A code of conduct is intended to preclude the use of intimidation tactics such as those used against workers today.

In past years BIDMC, a purportedly non profit institution, has spent patient care dollars on intimidation campaigns against their own staff when they have tried to form unions. Many Boston hospital workers are struggling to make ends meet on wages that don’t reward their years of labor, and thousands of workers can’t afford healthcare for themselves or their children. Said Fadel, “We have a vision of making our hospitals workplaces where caregivers have dignity and respect by joining together as a union. We want to make sure our patients get even better care.”

Click here for flyer

Fact Sheet:

BIDMC CEO Paul Levy’s actions conflict with the public image he has attempted to cultivate for himself on his own blog, where he has often argued that he does not need to sign a code of conduct agreement with any union pledging that he will not use intimidation and coercion tactics, because he is already deeply committed to open discourse among his employees.

The following are examples:

“At BIDMC, we surely support a free and fair [union] election.” (September 7, 2007)

“We believe in free elections in which each employee, unencumbered by peer pressure or other outside forces, gets to vote “yes” or “no” in the sanctity of a private voting place.” (August 25, 2006)

“On this blog and elsewhere, you have seen the utter transparency with which BIDMC conducts its business. This transparency is fully endorsed and encouraged by our governing bodies because they understand that we are ultimately accountable to the public and that we will do a better job for our community if we admit our mistakes and try to continually improve.” (November 3, 2007. Emphasis added).

“I expect to be judged by both my comments and my actions.” (July 7, 2007)