NORTH ADAMS -- Union officials at North Adams Regional Hospital charged Friday that hospital management has presented employees with a list of 18 demands that, among other things, threaten retirement benefits, overtime pay and seniority status for the number of years worked at the hospital.
Service Employees International Union 1199 said the demands would also affect prescription drug benefits and parking, reduce break periods for employees and forbid them from discussing workplace issues and concerns with each other.
"The caregivers at North Adams Regional are shocked and outraged by the set of demands that the hospital has put forward," union Vice President Michael Fadel said. "They're extreme demands. There are caregivers who have been there for 40 years -- their children have been born at the hospital, they've given their entire lives to the hospital. They're dedicated to seeing this through, and they're extremely upset that the hospital is jeopardizing good jobs and good care through these extreme actions."
According to the union, this new list of demands comes as Northern Berkshire Healthcare (NBH), the hospital's parent company, is bracing itself for "a major loss" in a federal case involving labor law violations at Sweet Brook Transitional Care and Living Centers in Williamstown, where NBH has tried to curtail nursing home workers from joining SEIU 1199.
Dianne Cutillo, vice president of external affairs for Northern Berkshire Healthcare, said the
"My first reaction to reading SEIU's press release is that it has more whoppers than Burger King," she said. "But it is inappropriate to bargain or refuse to bargain in the press. We haven't even given the union any of our proposals, and it's disappointing that they've decided to comment on them before we've even begun any bargaining."
According to the union, negotiations are due to begin on Nov. 10, and caregivers plan to reject management's demands. A news release Friday from the union said caregivers fear that NBH CEO Richard Palmisano is failing to consider the impact "his increasingly unpredictable attacks on staff" could have on the day-to-day operations of the facility.
The recent demands presented by Palmisano's team "were so extreme that hospital employee reaction at a recent union membership meeting ranged from shock to outrage," the release stated.
"We have been trying very hard to bring this administration's focus back to making this hospital work for its patients and staff," NARH employee and union member Barbara Ziemba said in the release. "That's why we've already made changes to our retirement benefits that generated hundreds of thousand of dollars in savings for the hospital. Now, they want us to surrender almost every basic right we have on the job. The hostile stance taken by hospital officials is very alarming to all of us who just want a work environment where we can focus on delivering quality care."
Because Northern Berkshire Healthcare is the area's largest employer, Fadel said, union members are committed to seeing that sustainable jobs are preserved at the hospital. He said the union's first and foremost goal is to ensure the best possible care and services to the patients. Other hospitals in the state are in more dire financial straits than North Adams Regional, but the management of those facilities have not resorted to the "extreme demands" that have been seen in North Adams, he said.
According to the union, the demands are such that they will destroy jobs and hurt patient care at the 80-bed hospital.
Fadel said he wished the union and management could work together in a manner similar to the other hospitals.
The union also claimed that NBH officials have placed the company on the market for a potential buyer. Fadel said there has been talk from management that they are in exploratory talks with other health care systems about selling the facility or merging it into another system.
"I think what is significant, if this is the case, is that it does not make sense for management to be attacking their own work force in this way," he said. "The last thing a prospective partnering health system would want is that sort of disruption at the time of a merger."
Cutillo would not comment on a potential merger or sale.
SEIU 1199 represents support staff at the hospital, including licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, dietary aides, respiratory therapists and housekeeping staff. The union at Sweet Brook would represent those positions as well as all non-management registered nurses and administrative staff.
The union said court proceedings are continuing this week in the Sweet Brook labor dispute.
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