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AFSCME unions back Forum sale to Ardent
By Elise Franco
Warren
A majority yes vote by three AFSCME union locals gives new support for the proposed sale of Forum Health to Ardent Health Services.
Tom Connelly, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2288, said members of Locals 2288, 2026 and 2804 voted Thursday to adopt the proposed sale to Ardent, which is based in Tennessee.
The three unions represent 1,200 employees of Trumbull Memorial Hospital and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital.
“We completed our vote,” he said. “All three locals voted overwhelmingly to support the sale of Forum to Ardent.”
Deborah Bindas, AFSCME Ohio Council 8 staff representative, said details of the agreement are still under wraps because of an agreement between the unions and Ardent. Bindas did say that the collective bargaining agreement will expire in various years, with the first expiring in 2013.
She added that the union employees were given three options when voting.
“The first option was to modify the agreement with Ardent. The second was to modify the agreement, for the fourth time, with Forum Health to the tune of $57 million in concessions over five years,” she said. “The third option was to choose neither, which opened the door for creditors to make decisions for our union members.”
The Ardent agreement was chosen by a landslide, Bindas said, while union employees had the least amount of confidence in the Forum agreement.
“Above all, [Ardent has] a solid plan and the resources to keep the hospitals open and serving the community,” Connelly said Thursday in a news release. “For most of us, it was Ardent or the courts. Forum’s plan was unrealistic and has virtually no chance of success.”
Bindas said now the most important focus will be the sale of Forum to Ardent.
“They’re going to put money into the system to return us to the premium health-care facility in the Valley,” she said. “I believe it will move the progression forward with the creditors and bankruptcy court.”