Herrick Medical Center workers picket over contract disputes

By DEB WUETHRICH

Hospital workers at Bixby and Herrick Medical Centers launched a two-day picket on Tuesday to protest the hospitals’ plan to increase healthcare costs for healthcare workers without providing them with a cost of living adjustment. Union members expected to continue the pickets on Wednesday.

Health care worker Connie Ackley has worked at the facility for 16 years and said that it is hard for health care providers such as herself to keep up when insurance costs keep rising and there are no cost of living raises to supplement it. Service and maintenance unit workers do not get the same raises as other hospital staff, according to a fact sheet issued by the union, and the hospital’s proposed wage rates will not keep up with the cost of living and increasing costs of food and fuel.

“Now with times so rough and with people not getting raises, you start losing money,” Ackley said. She said the current contract that the workers are under is an extension of a previous contract. She said during bargaining sessions, union representatives were told that the ProMedica Health System, based in Toledo, Ohio, which has its own insurance carrier, did not want them bargaining over insurance.

“But it’s in our contract to bargain for anything,” Ackley said. “Then they raised it another 2 percent.” She said this is not the first time that a 2 percent raise has been placed upon the workers.

“The workers at Bixby and Herrick helped make the hospitals the strong and profitable institutions they are today,” said Marge Faville, secretary treasurer of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, which represents the hospital workers. “Hospitals should lead by example and ensure their workers have access to quality and affordable health coverage and decent pay. Instead, they want to increase healthcare costs for healthcare workers without even providing a cost of living raise.”

Faville, who also is a registered nurse, added that the increase could force many healthcare workers to leave their jobs and be replaced with inexperienced and unskilled workers. “That will hurt the quality care that our loved ones depend on and put our families at risk. Lenawee County families shouldn’t have to worry about the skill level of the hospital staff when they seek medical attention.”

SEIU Healthcare Michigan members have been negotiating with the two hospitals for several months. SEIU Healthcare Michigan represents more than 55,000 healthcare workers statewide, including registered nurses, home care workers, nursing home aides and hospital support staff.

“Our issue all along has really been insurance,” said Ackley. “That, and not really respecting what we do as a team here. We do a lot of customer service with the patients. It’s a lot more than we’re supposed to do. We’re just considered caring people.” Ackley said the healthcare workers believe they should be treated more like valuable members of the medical center team.

ProMedica Health System issued a statement on the matter from Greg Corbett, President of Bixby Medical Center and Herrick Medical Center.

“Bixby Medical Center and Herrick Medical Center remain committed to offering competitive wages and benefits for employees in this region and marketplace,” the statement noted. “We will continue to work with the union until we have a deal on the table that is fair. In the meantime, I urge union members who are participating in informational pickets to please respect our patients’ right to a quiet and peaceful hospital environment.”

Union members are expected to hold a membership meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 20, to determine how to proceed with their issues.