300 workers vote to unionize at CDH

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 07-21-2017 12:52 PM

NORTHAMPTON — Around 300 service workers employed at Cooley Dickinson Hospital will join a labor union following the results of a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board Thursday.

But ballot challenges and a narrow margin make it uncertain whether another 100 technical workers at the hospital, who voted at the same time, will also become part of the 1199 Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers East.

Tyrék D. Lee, Sr., executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, said in a statement that the vote allows hospital employees to better advocate for themselves and their families, while still providing quality care to patients.

“We are proud to welcome our new Cooley Dickinson sisters and brothers into our 1199SEIU family and look forward to working with them to ensure all workers, including those not yet unionized, have good jobs, fair wages and respect, dignity and a voice in the workplace,” Lee said.

The hospital agreed to enter the labor process in May.

“It has been CDH’s position from the beginning that we respect the right of employees to make free and fully informed decisions on the question of unionization through the process of a secret ballot election,” President and Chief Executive Officer Joanne Marqusee said in a statement Friday. “This is fully consistent with the respect we have always had for our employees, and with our core values.”

The service workers include administrative, transport and food service staff, as well as medical interpreters and phlebotomists.

Deanna Williams, an administrative assistant at the hospital for 11 years, was among those who cast an affirmative ballot.

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"I voted yes to join 1199SEIU to have a more fair playing field for employees, to be treated with respect and fairness and to have support when we need it,” Williams said in a statement.

The technical workers are medical lab and cardiovascular technicians and respiratory therapists.

Since a majority of service workers voted to join 1199SEIU, the union will begin forming a bargaining unit over the next few weeks and then start negotiations with the hospital in a good faith effort to reach a fair contract, said Nikko Mendoza, communications director for the union.

“It is our view that a united and collective voice for the service workers can better advocate for continued improvements to the workplace and better care for patients,” Mendoza said.

Hospitals officials said CDH is pledging to put the well being of employees and patients at the forefront of contract negotiations, and continue to deliver what they described as compassionate and personalized care. 

“This election does not affect how the hospital is run and patients will not experience any difference,” said Julia Sorensen, the hospital’s chief marketing and communications officer, in an email. “Cooley Dickinson and all of our employees are committed, as we have always been, to providing high quality, compassionate and personalized care for our community.”

Cooley Dickinson employs about 1,800 people. Already, around 300 nurses are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses’ Association. Doctors at the hospital are not unionized.

SEIU represents about 56,000 workers across Massachusetts and a growing number of healthcare workers. In March, some 500 service workers at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital in Boston, and 80 technical workers at Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, joined 1199SEIU. Over 40 workers at Brockton Visiting Nurses Association joined 1199SEIU in October 2016, and more than 200 workers at Medical Resources, a private home care agency based in Newton, voted to join the union in May 2015.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.

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