Striking Butler Hospital workers may not have a job to return to if and when their strike ends, according to an email sent by the psychiatric hospital’s president on Monday.
Butler President and COO Mary E. Marran informed the hospital’s roughly 800 unionized members of SEIU 1199 NE that while management “will continue to work toward a fair and respectful resolution” in bargaining talks for a new contract, the hospital “must also ensure that we fulfill our commitment to providing safe, high-quality care to our patients.”
That means hiring permanent replacements to fill the roles left empty due to the striking workers’ absence, Marran wrote in her email Monday and confirmed in a follow-up statement supplied Tuesday to media outlets.
“We sincerely hoped this step would not become necessary,” Marran wrote. “However, as we are now into the third week of SEIU 1199 NE’s strike, we believe this action is essential to ensure continuity of patient care and maintain the stability of our services.”
Marran added that, to comply with federal law, “striking employees who have been permanently replaced will not return to work once the strike ends.” Instead, the hospital will add those workers to a “preferential hire list,” Marran wrote, and they can apply for open positions as they become available.
Workers have been on strike since May 15, protesting what they allege are unfair labor practices as they rally for better wages and workplace protections in their search for a new set of contracts. Four different contracts covered a range of SEIU 1199 NE members working at Butler, including mental health staff, nurses, clerical workers, and custodial and dietary employees.
All four of the contracts expired on March 31, and negotiating talks stalled first on May 7, prompting workers to head to the picket line about a week later.
Marran maintained that the hospital will “welcome employees back to work at any time,” a sentiment she’s offered since the strike began.
Butler began hiring temporary labor shortly after the strike began. Raina C. Smith, a spokesperson for Care New England, which owns the Providence hospital, told Rhode Island Current last week that the cost for temporary replacement labor was already “millions.”
All four of the contracts expired on March 31, and negotiating talks stalled first on May 7, prompting workers to head to the picket line about a week later.
Last week, negotiators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) arrived in Rhode Island to help the two parties reach an agreement, but two marathon negotiating sessions on May 29 and May 30 yielded no results.
The two parties are set to reconvene at the bargaining table Wednesday, with the FMCS participating once again.
“We are well aware that Butler is using all tactics available to them to break us, but what they are actually doing is making us stronger,” Dawn Williams, a registered nurse in the hospital’s intensive treatment unit and a member of the union’s negotiating committee, said in an email Tuesday.
“We are headed into negotiations tomorrow with the hope that we will come out with a fair contract, but we are willing to stay out for as long as it takes to get the dignity and respect our staff and patients deserve,” Williams said.
Plans to hire permanent replacements were confirmed the same day striking workers marched on Care New England’s Providence headquarters to demand a new contract. Two days earlier, on May 31, employees’ health coverage ended, and workers have begun signing up for insurance via the state marketplace, according to the union.
Marran published a statement Tuesday on the ButlerInfoForYou.org website that has served as a landing point for the hospital’s perspective on the negotiating process. She wrote that she understands the “emotions behind the strike — your calls for change come from a place of care, of wanting Butler to be better for you, for our patients, and for the future.”
“I respect your voices,” said Marran, who wrote that she worked as an occupational therapist at the hospital four decades ago. “But advocating for what matters is most effective when rooted in common interest, not division.”
The hospital’s most recent proposals have been regularly uploaded to the website. Marran summarized management’s four-year offer, including pay raises — up to 40% for the lowest-paid staff — and a no-premium health plan option with partial health savings account funding for the first three years. The most recent offer also stipulates no pension changes for current employees, plus a new retirement benefit for future hires, according to Marran.
Amelia Abromaitis, a spokesperson for SEIU 1199 NE, did not immediately have a copy of the union’s counterproposals to share on Tuesday.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
