Union expects objections to Forum Health plan to pay former CEO

YOUNGSTOWN — Forum Health will be in bankruptcy court Tuesday for permission to keep using its cash on hand, but union officials hope to prevent that money from being paid to a former chief executive.

Officials from two unions say they expect objections to be filed in opposition to Walter “Buzz” Pishkur being paid up to $9,000 a week as a consultant.

Lawyers from the American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees are researching how the union can best express its outrage at the pay proposal for Pishkur, said Tom Connelly, president of Local 2026, which represents 400 nurses at Trumbull Memorial Hospital.

A coalition of groups may join together to fight the plan, he added.

Rob Johnson, hospital division director for the Service Employees International Union, said he couldn’t comment on that union’s legal plans but he said he expected objections to be filed by some parties in the case. The union represents 1,100 technical and professional workers at TMH and Northside Medical Center.

For more details, see Saturday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com