Public Employee Press

Hospital laborers battle layoffs

Lawsuits hold off hospital firings

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS



DISTRICT COUNCIL 37 blocked draconian cutbacks that would have fired 450 hospital workers- including 59 City Laborers, 10 Locksmiths and Supervisors, and 3 Radio Repairers - on Sept. 17 by going to court Sept. 16 with two lawsuits against the Health and Hospitals Corp.

"The news is great! It means our members will keep working, and as long as we are working there is still hope," said Local 924 President Kyle Simmons.

"HHC employees have been doing more with less for too long," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, who is leading the union's campaign to save the jobs with Simmons. The judge issued a temporary restraining order based on DC 37's allegations that the HHC restructuring plan fails to adhere to seniority rules and would violate state health codes and safety regulations by not having sufficient staff to properly maintain its facilities.

Union fights back

"The restructuring plan would implement arbitrary layoffs that ignore seniority rules, erase job security and eliminate health benefits," Roberts said.

Although HHC faces serious budget gaps, it paid consultant Deloitte LLP a whopping $4 million for cost-cutting recommendations that would jeopardize the high accreditation ratings of HHC facilities. The layoffs would devastate the public hospitals, workers and their families and the surrounding communities.

Laborers at Jacobi Hospital, set on 64 hilly acres in the Bronx, maintain the heliport and clear roads and walkways so patients, EMS crews, doctors and staff have unobstructed access to Jacobi's eight buildings, especially in storms and blizzards. The layoffs would reduce their numbers from 20 to five.

"Jacobi is one of the only profitable HHC facilities," said 14-year veteran City Laborer George Cairone. "Instead of cutting our jobs, Bloomberg should use Jacobi as a model on how to make money while providing quality health care.

" HHC claims it no longer needs the Laborers because they were hired for capital improvements that have been completed. But in fact, HHC's Laborers were hired before those projects began, and they have plenty of other work.

City Laborers move furniture, maintain grounds, and assist trades workers with installing pipes, sheetrocking offices and hospital rooms and laying tile and fl ooring. They often fix contractors' mistakes and make in-house repairs faster and cheaper. They earn about $22 an hour, roughly $49,000 a year, and have not had a raise in eight years.

As HHC issued pink slips, City Comptroller John Liu issued a report that said the Local 924 members deserve pay increases based on prevailing wages. Simmons said, "Even if HHC uses private contractors, they have to pay prevailing wages, at no savings and a contractor's premium."

After DC 37 filed its lawsuits, HHC pushed Laborers and trades employees to work overtime, but senior management tried to curtail the extra work.

It's a day-to-day existence for Metropolitan Hospital City Laborer Richard Nitt. With a wife and two sons, one with a rare form of cancer, he is the sole breadwinner. "I take pride in my work," he said. "I need my job and my medical benefits."

"Does this mayor realize that he is destroying us, and the middle class?" asked Nitt's wife, Jo. "We are struggling, juggling every paycheck just to survive." A layoff, she said, would force them to split the Staten Island family among relatives in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma and give up their beloved dogs.

With the help of Associate Political Action Director Lawrence Kenchen, the Laborers lobbied City Hall, and 38 of the 51 City Council members signed a letter by Council members Julissa Ferreras and Mathieu Eugene, expressing outrage at the threat to union jobs. "Hospital trade staffers are the first line of defense in the critical role of maintaining hospital operations and safeguarding public health," they wrote. DC 37 is pressing the Council to hold hearings on the issue.

"This struggle has built solidarity," Simmons said. "We're in a do-or-die fight for our jobs."