PROVIDENCE – Butler Hospital employees who are members of SEIU District 1199 New England voted, 282 to 2, to approve a new collective bargaining agreement with Butler, a Care New England facility, on April 11.
The new four-year agreement represents months of negotiations between hospital workers and executives, and offers union members improved job security and regular raises, while protecting retirement and health care benefits and improving the working conditions for newly unionized employees, according to the union’s press statement.
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Chas Walker, a spokesperson for District 1199 NE, identified some of the new contract’s key provisions:
- Job security: Any employee hired before the contract date who achieves a minimum of three years of employment cannot be laid off or have their hours involuntarily reduced;
- Successorship: Any entity that assumes control of Butler Hospital via a sale, merger, transfer, etc. must accept the contract terms as a condition of the change of ownership;
- Salary increases: The greater of 2 percent or $.35 increase on April 1, 2017, 2 percent on April 1, 2018 and again on April 1, 2019, as well as step increases and wage scales for all job classifications that did not have them previously; and
- Pathway to $15/hour for the lowest paid workers, such as dietary aides and housekeepers: By April 1, 2019, no employees with at least two years of service will be paid less than $14.36 per hour, and those with five years of service or more will earn, at a minimum, $16.01 per hour.
Walker noted that the contract maintains the employees’ pension plan, tax sheltered annuity plan (a retirement savings plan in addition to the pension plan) and affordable health care benefits.
In a statement, Butler Hospital Vice President of Operations and Business Development Mary Marran said, “This was not an easy settlement to reach. It required thoughtfulness on both sides. I am pleased and heartened we came together with a clear perspective on ensuring the operational health of our hospital going forward on behalf of the patients we serve.”
Approximately 150 Butler employees, including social workers, intake coordinators, patient financial service coordinators, unit secretaries, clinical access specialists and dietary employees, have been members of District 1199 NE since late 2015, joining the nurses, mental health workers, medical records clerks and housekeeping staff who first organized the union at Butler, in the 1980s.
“Butler Hospital will continue to be a world-class facility because of its dedicated employees,” Patrick J. Quinn, executive vice president, SEIU District 1199 NE, said in the statement. “Preserving excellent wages and benefits for staff ensures that we preserve the high-quality, compassionate care that we deliver for our patients. In an uncertain time, health care workers know that they can do better when they unite together in District 1199.”
SEIU District 1199 NE represents more than 4,000 individuals in Rhode Island, including 2,200 individuals working within the CNE health system.
The previous contract at Butler had expired on April 1, and a tentative agreement was reached between the parties on April 7. In December 2016, 1199 NE members employed at Women & Infants Hospital, another CNE facility, overwhelmingly approved a new four-year contract.
Nancy Kirsch is a PBN contributing writer.
