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valleycare During rally, union airs its concerns
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Service Employees International Union District 1199 members rallied Wednesday afternoon for improved contract negotiations at the site of one of the more well-known strikes in Trumbull County history.
They stood near the entrance sign on East Market Street for ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital, where a sometimes-violent strike took place in 1982 under former ownership.
The union represents 350 technical and professional workers at ValleyCare’s Trumbull Memorial Hospital and satellite offices on Elm Road in Warren and Belmont Avenue in Liberty.
Their ranks include licensed practical nurses, social workers, insurance processors, purchasers, medical-imaging and X-ray technicians, pharmacists, blood-bank workers and patient financial-services workers.
Mary Ann Hupp, administrative organizer for the union, said negotiations on a new contract are ongoing but not as quickly as she would like.
The workers are under an extended agreement that expires April 30.
“Staffing is the biggest concern,” she said. “We want a commitment to quality. If workers are so overworked that they tire out, where is the quality?” Hupp asked. “They’re down to very little staffing.”
In between protest chants from the roughly 40 union members and supporters on hand, speakers talked about staffing levels that they say have fallen below acceptable levels.
Huff said negotiations involve more than just staffing, but it’s important that staffing levels at ValleyCare are “consistent with quality standards.”
Hupp would not say what number of employees would be necessary to achieve that standard.
Debora Bishop, ValleyCare spokeswoman, said the company “is committed to providing excellent care for our patients, and we greatly appreciate the many employees who proudly deliver that care day in and day out.”
She added that she hoped both sides will remain focused on negotiations relating to working conditions, compensation and benefits “so that a mutually acceptable agreement can be reached soon.”
Bill Padisak, president of the Mahoning, Trumbull AFL-CIO Labor Council, called ValleyCare a company “with the resources and the workers to take care of the patients of this hospital.”
Padisak said workers at ValleyCare’s local hospitals made sacrifices when ValleyCare acquired them in 2010 to keep them open.
“I hope they realize that,” he said.