Bedside hospital caregivers, service, and campus workers focus on negotiating  benefits and wages to help recruit and retain staff as Home Care Equipment Techs unanimously vote to join 1199SEIU

Rochester, NY - Unionized bedside caregivers, hospital and campus workers agree to extension of their current labor deal through Saturday, October 10th at 11:59 PM.  The nearly 50-person member led bargaining committee agreed to extend the labor deal in order to continue negotiating the economic terms and conditions of their employment with the largest private sector employer in upstate. 

 

While discussions over proposed changes in the no discrimination language in the contract and neutrality have increased tensions at the bargaining table, union leaders repeatedly ask hospital management to provide information on staffing levels for its hospital.  

 

The New York State Department of Health requires hospital systems to submit a staffing grid each year before July 1st. These grids are agreed upon by a staffing committee made up of workers and management^[1].  New York State’s Clinical Staffing Law allows patients and the public to understand and compare staffing patterns and levels at each hospital across the state.  Among staff included in the ratios are Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Patient Unit Secretaries and Patient Care Technicians^[2].  The grids provide for a minimum number of staff in each department based on shift.  When the agreed upon grids are not maintained, hospital based clinical staff can submit complaints to management every single time they work below the grid.

 

“Staffing on the nursing units is causing low morale among many workers. In nursing, we are burning out because we are doing more and more strenuous work to care for patients,” said Dana Allison Patient Care Technician.

 

1199SEIU submitted an information request to hospital management asking for a report of staffing levels in June.  URMC’s Strong Memorial Hospital leaders have repeatedly failed to provide the union with access to these complaints and staffing levels. Nurses and ancillary caregivers take the staffing law seriously.  In recent months, unionized nurses at Rochester General submitted complaints to the NYS DOH that resulted in a massive fine^[3].

 

As the affordability crisis and staffing challenges across the University of Rochester system  grows, more and more workers are experiencing devastating consequences over the lack of competitive wages to recruit and retain staff. 

 

“There are hundreds of vacancies as members and staff leave the University for higher wages.  This results in more work for the staff who remain, causing burnout,” said Dawn Marshall-Hosier, Executive Vice-President, SEIU Local 200United.

 

Lack of competitive wages makes it very difficult to recruit staff to fill more than a thousand vacancies at the hospital and campus.  Both unions are working together to negotiate one agreement that will improve staffing, maintain quality health insurance and improve wages to help retain and recruit more staff to provide bedside care and services throughout the University’s system.  Retirement benefits and paid time off will also be key in contract talks for any new labor deal. All this as University of Rochester grad workers continue to fight for union recognition and rights. 

 

More professional and clinical workers at University of Rochester are joining unions to secure a voice on the job, along with guaranteed benefits and wages.  1199SEIU also represents more than 110 professionals and clinicians at University of Rochester’s Medicine Homecare whose 3-year contract^[4]expires next summer.  

This week, Home Care Equipment Tech 1’s at University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital unanimously voted to join 1199SEIU.  Home Care Equipment Techs perform medical infusion/supply coordination and in-home education for patients in Monroe and surrounding counties.   

"It is my hope that our team can not only grow but thrive with the opportunities provided to us by the union.  We can work together on a more even footing to eliminate any problem we may face when it comes to providing care to those who need it," said Rena Beachkofski, Home Care Equipment Tech 1 at Strong Memorial Hospital.

 

Two unions representing approximately 2,000 workers at Strong Memorial Hospital and University of Rochester’s River Campus have been negotiating for their next contract since early August.  Contract talks are ongoing between 1199SEIU, SEIU Local 200United and the University of Rochester. Workers and University of Rochester management are currently negotiating two days per week but the unions are demanding more days with longer hours as is customary in contract talks. 

 

Bedside hospital patient caregivers and service workers employed at Strong Memorial Hospital are represented by 1199SEIU and service workers at the University of Rochester are represented by SEIU Local 200United. 

 

The contract covering more than 2,000 workers at the largest private sector employer in upstate was set to expire Saturday before both sides agreed to an extension.  Now, both sides have 2 dates to continue negotiations next week through Saturday, October 10th. A federal mediator from Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) was present during early negotiating sessions, however the unions have hired a well experienced private mediator.

 

Caregivers represented by 1199SEIU at Strong Memorial Hospital and Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester include Patient Care Technicians, Nursing Assistants, Dental Assistants, Materials Processing Specialists, Patient Unit Secretaries, Environmental Service Workers, Cooks, Food Service Workers, Dietary Workers, Drivers, Porters, Stockkeepers, Transport Assistants, Transportation Center Workers, Truck Drivers, and Unit Support Assistants. 

Workers represented by SEIU Local 200United at the University of Rochester Campus include Building Services, Dining Services, Porters, Cooks, Stack Attendants – Library, Catering Service Assistants, Bus Drivers, Truck Drivers, and Stockkeepers.   

 

On Background: 

Neutrality gives all employees at the University of Rochester the right to seek union representation to negotiate their benefits and wages including graduate workers who went on strike last year after the university failed to sign an agreement allowing a pathway to join a union. Neutrality would allow nurses, professionals, and other clinicians at the hospital the same privileges their counterparts in the Professional Homecare^[5] unit fought for last year. 

 

Larger healthcare employers have offered their workers neutrality. This week, more than 70,000 consumer directed personal assistants (CDPAP)^[6]signed cards to join a union after their employer agreed to neutrality. Some question why University of Rochester refuses similar language. 

Union representation gives workers a better way to hold their employer accountable.  Last year, more than 1,100 of the hospital workers represented by 1199SEIU won a yearslong arbitration over a contracted Scheduling Incentive Program (SIP) not included in their paychecks, despite having earned those monies^[7]. Union contract language helped to ensure workers could receive those earned benefits – highlighting the difference among unionized employees at the largest upstate employer.

 

University of Rochester Graduate Students began forming a union to fight for living wages.^[8] Graduate workers held a massive rally, later going on strike to demand that University of Rochester President Sarah Mangelsdorf make good on a promise to sign documents allowing their union election to move forward.

 

In 2023, thousands of University of Rochester hospital and campus workers held an historic one-day strike when they walked off the job during brutal winter weather^[9]. 

 

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