“A deal is only fair if it works for all of us.” - Catherine Maynard, RN
Providence: After weeks of no response from Butler Hospital, on Friday afternoon, July 11, healthcare workers received the hospital's revised “last, best and final offer.” Without giving workers a chance to review, Butler Hospital published the proposal on their website and issued a press release announcing it. After spending time evaluating the proposal, Butler workers have issued the following responses:
Catherine Maynard, Registered Nurse:
Joanna Futrell, Medical Records:
“As employees in Medical Records at Butler Hospital, we cannot accept a proposal with so little change to management's wage offers for anyone that is not a mental health worker or nurse - that includes employees in medical records, clerical, dietary, housekeeping, and social workers.
We didn’t strike for over two months to go backwards, or to be punished for trying to make our workplace safer for ourselves and our patients. The whole reason most of us accepted this job, knowing the pay was sub-par, was because of the union benefits, including great healthcare. No hospital becomes better by undermining its workers’ union rights or forcing them to make concessions, especially when they have the money to invest in its workforce.
For Medical Records, the starting pay with the management's proposal would be nowhere near enough for us to cover our basic needs in this economy, a slap to the face given the importance of our work.
We feel strongly that Medical Records should not be considered a low wage job - we are the last line of defense against HIPAA violations; no patient records exits this hospital without first passing through our hands. We work diligently to help our patients navigate insurance policies, state and federal regulations and are crucial in getting patient records to other providers for referrals, doctors’ notes, aftercare, audits, insurance appeals, subpoenas, legal requests, social security, quality control, deficiencies and coding - ALL of which gets this hospital paid.
Mental health care is essential healthcare, and a part of that care is peace of mind. Our patients’ sensitive records are secure with experienced professionals in their field of knowledge. We are that Medical Record Team and we need a fair contract with our health benefits intact. Butler’s president claims she values her employees, it is time she proves it by investing our hospitals profits back into the workforce that made it a success.”
“As employees in Medical Records at Butler Hospital, we cannot accept a proposal with so little change to management's wage offers for anyone that is not a mental health worker or nurse - that includes employees in medical records, clerical, dietary, housekeeping, and social workers.
We didn’t strike for over two months to go backwards, or to be punished for trying to make our workplace safer for ourselves and our patients. The whole reason most of us accepted this job, knowing the pay was sub-par, was because of the union benefits, including great healthcare. No hospital becomes better by undermining its workers’ union rights or forcing them to make concessions, especially when they have the money to invest in its workforce.
For Medical Records, the starting pay with the management's proposal would be nowhere near enough for us to cover our basic needs in this economy, a slap to the face given the importance of our work.
We feel strongly that Medical Records should not be considered a low wage job - we are the last line of defense against HIPAA violations; no patient records exits this hospital without first passing through our hands. We work diligently to help our patients navigate insurance policies, state and federal regulations and are crucial in getting patient records to other providers for referrals, doctors’ notes, aftercare, audits, insurance appeals, subpoenas, legal requests, social security, quality control, deficiencies and coding - ALL of which gets this hospital paid.
Mental health care is essential healthcare, and a part of that care is peace of mind. Our patients’ sensitive records are secure with experienced professionals in their field of knowledge. We are that Medical Record Team and we need a fair contract with our health benefits intact. Butler’s president claims she values her employees, it is time she proves it by investing our hospitals profits back into the workforce that made it a success.”
Workers are in the process of formulating a counter proposal to deliver to management that provides fair market wages for workers across the hospital and protections to their healthcare benefits. Nearly 60% of Butler staff surveyed said they struggled to afford the cost of food and housing. A new report indicates that a Rhode Islander must earn $25.31 to afford a studio apartment, $27.25 for a one bedroom and $33.20 for a two bedroom apartment.
For more information or to request an interview with a member of SEIU 1199NE please contact comms@seiu1199ne.org or Amelia Abromaitis at (484) 363-9783 or Rachel Rooney at (860)280-6443.
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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.Download asPDFDOCX