“Good morning, my name is Courtney Threats; I am a social worker and part of the Butler member bargaining team. Today, we wanted to provide an update on the bargaining process and what movement we as a committee have made in order to come to a deal.
On Wednesday, August 6 - after more than a month without negotiations - we met with the federal mediator and Butler’s legal team. Over the span of 18 hours, we offered two counter proposals that could have settled this dispute. But around 3:00 AM, management left the building with no resolution. These proposals offer significant movement on wages and benefits in order to reach a fair agreement.
Specifically, our latest counterproposal:
On Wednesday, August 6 - after more than a month without negotiations - we met with the federal mediator and Butler’s legal team. Over the span of 18 hours, we offered two counter proposals that could have settled this dispute. But around 3:00 AM, management left the building with no resolution. These proposals offer significant movement on wages and benefits in order to reach a fair agreement.
Specifically, our latest counterproposal:
- Narrows the distance between our wage proposal and the employer’s to only $1.2 million over four years - or $300,000 a year.
- As part of this, we have agreed to pay a new premium on our HSA healthcare plan.
What’s more, instead of honoring the ongoing bargaining process, management opted instead to issue inflammatory press releases attacking workers and making false accusations against us.
Our lockout will hit three months this Friday. The movement we made was painful but it allows us to maintain our core goals of lifting our least-paid members out of poverty and making Butler safer. Care New England is spending $65,000 a day on unemployment, has spent $36,000 on radio ads, untold millions on replacement workers and lawyers - not to mention all the lost revenue of reduced services.
Enough is enough. This lockout needs to end. We are frustrated that management continues to stonewall us despite our attempts to bargain in good faith. Continuing this strike is not only bad business, it hurts our vulnerable patients. The only conclusion we can draw is that Butler wants to bully and punish the workers for holding them accountable to fixing a broken system.
So today, we call on Butler to put their egos aside, accept the fair proposal we put on the table and allow us to get back to our patients who need us.”
Our lockout will hit three months this Friday. The movement we made was painful but it allows us to maintain our core goals of lifting our least-paid members out of poverty and making Butler safer. Care New England is spending $65,000 a day on unemployment, has spent $36,000 on radio ads, untold millions on replacement workers and lawyers - not to mention all the lost revenue of reduced services.
Enough is enough. This lockout needs to end. We are frustrated that management continues to stonewall us despite our attempts to bargain in good faith. Continuing this strike is not only bad business, it hurts our vulnerable patients. The only conclusion we can draw is that Butler wants to bully and punish the workers for holding them accountable to fixing a broken system.
So today, we call on Butler to put their egos aside, accept the fair proposal we put on the table and allow us to get back to our patients who need us.”
