Negotiations between service and support staff and Unity Point-Meriter have stalled as union members demand the hospital return to the table to bargain in good faith.
On March 24, service and support staff represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Wisconsin held a press conference in front of Meriter Hospital, 202 S. Park St., to give an update on continued negotiations. Union members have been in talks since February and have extended their contract three times now as negotiations are still in the works. The most recent extension has been pushed out to April 11.
“Meriter has a sign on the wall, and every time you’re in the hospital, you see it. It says ‘You matter,’” said Michael Elvord, service and support union bargaining chair. “What we’re asking management to do today is do more than write it on the walls. We are asking them to actually live up to the values they speak of.”
So far, nine bargaining sessions have been held. Some progress has been made in demands on issues like bereavement, tuition reimbursement, short- and long-term disability and dental insurance.
(Photo by Omar Waheed)
Management has not moved on to pay increases towards what union members have hoped for. Mertier’s management has lobbied for the typical 1.01% annual step increase and an average Across the Board (ATB) increase of 2.48%.
In comparison — and what service and support staff believe is fair — is an equivalent raise similar to nursing staff of 3% ATB.
Management has also not budged on PTO that would give 1-2 additional days for service and support staff, which is in line with what nurses receive. Other remaining issues not yet reached an agreement on is union visitation and recognition of MLK Day as a paid holiday.
Service and support staff argue that they deserve fair treatment as other medical staff at Mertier. They are often at equal risk, but with lower pay. To miss a day without solid PTO to cover would cause financial strife for service and support staff.
“Service and support workers often work behind the scenes, doing the unsung, unglamorous things that keep the hospital moving,” Elvord said “Yet we are the people who struggle to afford gas, groceries and the time we need to care for ourselves and our families, many having to live paycheck to paycheck and dealing with the uncertainty that that brings.”
Support for the union comes from Wisconsin’s elected officials like State Rep. Francesca Hong and State Sen. Kelda Roys, who are both gubernatorial candidates for this coming April 7 election, and State Rep. Brienne Brown.
(Photo by Omar Waheed)
“It is outrageous that in this country, we pay more per person for health care than any other developed nation, and yet we have the worst outcomes. And why is that? It’s because we’ve made political choices again and again to put profit into our health care system,” Roys said.
Roys said that the system in place profits by denying care and exploiting workers. But without essential workers like service and support staff, the hospital cannot properly function.
“This hospital would stop in one hour if these workers were not able to do their jobs, and we should consider ourselves damn lucky that they are here in our community and willing to do this very, very important work to serve us all,” Roys said.
Hong, who is a long-time service industry worker, knows the important behind-the-scenes work that service and support staff do. To deny staff fair pay and PTO is “shameful,” Hong said.
“The fact that the folks who are making some of the lowest wages, even though they deserve so much more than that, are not being recognized is shameful,” Hong said. “I call on the executives, I call on management to do the right thing by your workers.”
No additional bargaining sessions are currently planned at this moment. The bargaining team expects to hear back on days to meet between now and the deadline of their contract’s expiration on April 11.
