NORTHAMPTON — Like many Cooley Dickinson employees, personal care assistant Dulceneia Moreno has worked at the hospital for a decade, and she is making less than $19 an hour.
Meanwhile, Anna Hlava spends her free time working as a DoorDash delivery driver to supplement her income as an emergency department technician.
“I’m 34 years old and I live in my dad’s basement. I can’t afford anything else,” Hlava said.
With no contract since Dec. 31, no hospital workers in 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East — outside of nurses, administration and security — have received a raise in over two years, according to the picketing employees.
That’s what brought around 50 workers and union members to a picket outside the hospital Friday afternoon.
Holding signs saying things like “respect us, protect us, pay us,” and chanting “Cooley you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side” and “gotta feed our children, gotta pay our rent, ask MGB where the money went,” picketers advocated for fair wages and better working conditions as cars honked in support.
“The things I’ve seen, the amount of death… I am disgusted by how much I get paid, how hard I work, how hard my colleagues work …” said Kelsey Conti, an emergency department technician, adding that she doesn’t think management cares. “It’s disgusting.”
Around 600 Cooley Dickinson workers belong to 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents more than 56,000 workers across the state.
The union has been in contract negotiations with Cooley Dickinson, under Mass General Brigham, for 10 months.
Right now, Mass General Brigham is proposing between 8.8% and 13% wage increases for the first year of the three-year contract — a proposal to which the union is agreeable. But for the next two years, MBG is offering 1% increases, with some additional step increases.
The union, however, is asking for 4% increases for those two years, with some additional shift differentials.
“Mass General Brigham is one of the largest employers in the state of Massachusetts, and they don’t want to pay us what we’re worth,” said Wendy Morin, a personal care assistant, unit secretary and union delegate.
“What we want is a livable wage,” Morin said. “Without a fair contract, we can’t pay rent. We can’t pay our utilities. We can’t feed our children.”
As calculated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023, a livable wage for one person without children is $21.35 an hour. That number increases to $45.57 with one child, $61.58 with two, and $82.41 with three children.
Cooley Dickinson spokesperson Adam Bagni said in a statement, “We look forward to continuing our good faith efforts to reach a fair, equitable solution on behalf of our valued healthcare workers and the Cooley Dickinson community.”
“Our goal has been, and remains, to reach a fair agreement that supports and recognizes the critical work of our staff in providing high-quality care to our patients. We continue to work towards that goal,” he said, adding that the picket would not disrupt hospital operations.
A 2021 report by industry analytics firm Mercer estimated that by 2025, the U.S. will be short around 446,000 home health aides, 98,700 medical and lab technologists and technicians, 95,000 nursing assistants, and over 29,000 nurse practitioners.
“Like many industries, staffing remains a complex challenge facing health care institutions nationwide. The same is true locally at hospitals throughout Western Massachusetts,” Bagni said in a statement.
“Cooley Dickinson is taking several proactive steps — including partnering with educational organizations, such as Bay Path University and the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at UMass Amherst; investing in recruitment channels, and leveraging professional groups and other stakeholders to aggressively recruit and retain health care professionals,” he said.
Workers protesting on Friday said that much of the hospital’s staffing issues are related to low pay.
“We can’t recruit and retain because they don’t get paid enough. We’re working short staffed; there’ll sometimes be one person taking care of 32 patients,” said Morin, adding that workers were also told if they don’t work 12-hour shifts, their insurance rates would go up.
Jane St. Peters is a 51-year veteran of Cooley Dickinson. As a retired scheduling coordinator in the endoscopy department who works on a per diem basis, she said, “Over the years, our workload has grown tremendously; however, our staff has not grown to meet that demand.”
“I’ve seen benefits deteriorate and morale deteriorate,” she added.
And the effects of short staffing, said picketers, trickles down to patient care.
“We haven’t had enough aids on the units, so patients aren’t getting the standard of care that they should get,” said Charleen Diggins, a nurse who falls under a different contract, but was standing in solidarity with other hospital workers. “It’s a team effort.”
Morin added, “We’ve got patients falling. We’ve got patients getting hospital-acquired bed sores or reddened areas because there’s not enough staff to help turn them.”
Workers plan to picket again until a fair agreement is reached, and say a future strike is not out of the question.
“I just can’t get over how I could go get a job somewhere else and make so much more and do so much less,” said Conti. “But believe it not, I like the job…. I don’t love management, but I love my colleagues.”
Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com.