MEDIA ADVISORY: June 17 & June 18, 2025 | CONTACT: Amelia Abromaitis - 484-363-9783 & | 860-280-6443

Butler Hospital Sells Land to Laurelmead Realty LLC for $15.7 million

16 June 2025

Union members to hold info pickets outside Providence Center and Kent Hospital to demand more from Care New England

Providence: On May 30, 2025, Care New England sold a portion of its property to Laurelmead Realty LLC, a retirement community adjacent to Butler Hospital, for $15.7 million, as confirmed by The Providence Journal. This announced sale comes on the heels of recent reports showing that CNE posted a $1.2 million operating gain in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, following a $3.4 million profit in the first quarter.

Butler workers and other union members across SEIU 1199NE will hold informational pickets at other Care New England facilities on today, Tuesday 6/17 (Providence Center) and Wednesday 6/18 (Kent Hospital) at 10AM. They will demand CNE leadership stop the stalling tactics and deception and bargain in good faith to settle a fair contract with the over 800 Butler workers who have been without a contract since the end of March.

Butler management continues to claim they don’t have the resources to pay us fairly but the numbers tell a different story. While management takes home six and seven figure salaries, some Butler workers are living out of their cars or are on the verge of homelessness. This hospital runs because of our labor. If you truly value your workforce, show it, not by cutting off our healthcare or working to replace us, but by paying fair wages that allow us to support our families.

- Dan Adams, Mental Health Worker, Lippit 2

https://www.providencejournal.com/story/lifestyle/real-estate/2025/06/16/ri-rhode-island-real-estate-transactions-what-homes-sold-for-how-much-and-to-whom/84225061007/

Last week, workers marked the one month anniversary of the Butler Hospital unfair labor practice strike by holding a 30 hour sit-in outside the hospital, each hour representing one day of the strike. 91% of the Butler workforce - or 99% of the workers who participated - voted to initiate an open ended strike on May 15 to confront a rising workplace violence epidemic driven by short staffing and poverty wages.

95% of Butler caregivers said in a recent survey said that Care New England is not doing enough to keep them safe at work and 60% said they have struggled to afford both food and housing costs. Butler Hospital’s starting hourly rates are $18.27 for mental health workers, $18.64 for certified nursing assistants and $15.53 for service and maintenance staff. According to the Economic Progress Institute’s 2024 Standard of Need, $23.47 is the wage needed for a single adult to make ends meet and $25.75 for a two-parent family with two children.

WHAT: Informational Pickets at Providence Center and Kent Hospital to demand greater accoutability from Care New England
WHEN: Providence Center: Tuesday, May 17, 10AM - 4PM | Kent Hospital: 10AM - 4PM
WHERE: Providence Center: 528 North Main Street,Providence, RI 02904 | Kent Hospital: 455 Toll Gate RoadWarwick, Rhode Island 02886
WHO: Butler Hospital striking workers and other union members from across SEIU 1199NE

###

District 1199 SEIU New England represents 29,000 health care and service workers in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Southeastern Massachusetts. In Rhode Island, 1199 SEIU NE represents almost 5,000 members. 1199 SEIU NE is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – a union of over 2 million members across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. SEIU has been a national leader in pushing the growing Fight for $15 and a Union movement.