Union sounds warning on cuts

The union wants to be sure other cost-saving avenues have been used.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- According to a union representative, cutting jobs, wages and health care programs at Forum Health would be a disaster for the Mahoning Valley's economy and those who need health care.
David Regan, president of the Service Employees International Union District 1199, said saving jobs and services and facilities at Forum Health, which is involved in what it describes as a "radical restructuring," is not only a union concern, "It is a vital community issue."
Regan represents 1,400 of Forum's 5,200 employees.
He is encouraging local business and political leaders to get involved before the final decisions on Forum Health are made.
"We believe a much broader spectrum of community leaders need to be engaged than just the few who serve on the Forum Health Board of Directors. No matter how well-intentioned, their job is not to look out for the best interests of the community," Regan said.
Fears shortage
Regan said he thinks that if Forum Health doesn't remain as it is, there would not be enough capacity to meet the health-care needs of the valley.
Forum, which says it has lost some $31.5 million the past two years, has hired Wellspring Partners, a Chicago-based consulting firm, to effect a quick financial turnaround.
The reductions have already begun. So far this year, several top administrators and nearly a dozen other corporate level employees have either left or been asked to leave. And earlier this week, Forum said it will outsource its security services, effective April 1.
Also ominous, in Regan's eyes, was Forum's announcement Wednesday that some 1,300 nonunion and salaried employees must now begin paying 25 percent of their health-care premiums, and that their defined pension plan has been frozen in favor of what Forum called an enhanced 401(k) retirement program.
Regan thinks that Forum's union members will be asked to accept similar concessions. However, he said, "Until we are satisfied that all other alternatives have been explored, we won't entertain those proposals."
Good jobs
The jobs at Forum Health are some of the best in the valley, and the local economy cannot take the hit of losing either the quantity or quality of jobs available at Forum Health.
"It is a mistake for this community to accept the notion that the data [presented by Wellspring] justifies turning Forum Health into a low-road employer," Regan said.
Regan believes that community leaders could be effective in influencing what happens to Forum because, unlike General Motors and Delphi Packard Electric, Forum's headquarters is in Youngstown and the final decisions will be made by local people.
What has the SEIU particularly concerned is a document it retrieved off the Internet while researching the issue that Regan thinks was prepared by Wellspring in 2005 and presented to Forum's board of directors.
A telephone call to Forum to ask about the validity of the Wellspring document was not immediately returned.
In the document, Wellspring says radical realignment and restructuring at Western Reserve Care Services, which includes Northside Medical Center and Tod Children's Hospital in Youngstown, and Beeghly Medical Park in Boardman, could do the most to ensure Forum's stability and long-term viability. Forum's other major hospitals are Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland.
Options include, according to the document that SEIU got off the Internet, outsourcing major services; reducing the scope of services at WRCS, providing only the services necessary to meet basic community needs; divestiture of peripheral businesses and facilities; and facility closure.
Also, the Wellspring Internet document recommends moving quickly on decisions about Valley Hospital, Forum's proposed for-profit hospital; plans for Beeghly Medical Park; the future of Tod Children's Hospital; and the reconfiguration of Northside Medical Center.
Regan said the Wellspring document confirms that for at least three months these conversations have been taking place at the highest level. It is very clear these scenarios are being evaluated, and that the entire community needs to get involved, he said.
Community leaders
Regan said the union has met with or been in touch with political leaders representing Mahoning and Trumbull Counties and supplied them with the information SEIU has. The union has also begun reaching out to the religious community.
Regan thinks it is a good thing that Forum employees are paid at or near the national average for health-care workers.
"If we want to turn around the valley, we need more jobs like that, not fewer," Regan said.
He said outsourcing some of the best jobs in the community is not in the best interest of the community. It diminishes the tax base and property values, makes it more difficult to recruit businesses into the area, and tells young people there are fewer and fewer opportunities to make a living here.
"This is not a labor dispute. This is a discussion on what the health-care network and the economy of the Mahoning Valley are ultimately going to look like," Regan said.
alcorn@vindy.com