Service and support employees at Meriter Hospital are currently in negotiations for a contract campaign to receive equal time off as nursing staff and to have MLK Day as a paid holiday.
Employees represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Wisconsin at Meriter Hospital have been in negotiations for weeks over its demands. For service and support employees, they seek an increase in paid time off equal to that of nurses. For staff as a whole, they seek MLK Day as a paid holiday, which is currently not granted by Meriter.
“The nurses, the RNs, I believe, get two days more than we get. They get two more days than we get for personal time, which of course we’re happy with, but our point is service and support,” said Michael Elvord, SEIU Wisconsin bargaining chair. “We are at risk just as much as they are.”
Paid time off for service and support staff is around 12 or 13 days, Elvord said.
Staff argue that they are in the area of risk as nurses — due to being in the same rooms exposed to the same conditions — and should be granted equal paid time off.
Every member part of the team taking care of patients deserves dignity and fairness, said Dane County Executive Melissa Agard at a press conference at the Urban League of Greater Madison on March 7.
“We know that when workers have the ability to rest, when they are respected, when they can spend time with the people who love them, when they can observe days that are important to them and to their culture and to our shared history, that our families are stronger and we are stronger as individuals, and Dane County will be stronger,” Agard said.
(Photo by Omar Waheed)
Nurses at Meriter support the campaign. Victoria Gutierrez, a registered nurse at Meriter, says that each role, from nurses to its service and support staff, is vital to providing patient care.
“We learned through the pandemic that we deserve time to rest as well,” Gutierrez said. “Aligning PTO is a clear and simple way for Meriter to show their workers that they matter.”
Also in contention for contract negotiations is to make MLK Day a paid holiday. No one at Meriter receives it as paid time off. To many, recognizing the holiday would show respect and dignity for Dr. King’s legacy, who often fought for the rights of workers.
The NAACP Dane County chapter and Voces de la Frontera both voiced support in contract negotiations.
“Civil rights and labor rights are connected at the shoulder, at the hip, at the knee and at the ankle,” said Greg Jones, president of the NAACP Dane County. “Think about Martin Luther King’s mission, passion, commitment, and think about Jesse Jackson’s action and tactics for labor together. We are all agents of change.”
Progress on contract negotiations is not quite clear. Agreements have been made to extend current contracts while negotiations are underway.
A strike isn’t necessarily on the table as Elvord believes that the bargaining team will continue to work on extensions until a new contract can be finalized.
