Public Employee Press

“Save our safety net”
Coalition battles budget cuts at HHC

District Council 37 has joined forces with community and faith-based organizations in the continuing battle to save the city’s public health-care system from potentially devastating budget cuts.

At an April 16 news conference at Bellevue Hospital, the union demanded that elected officials in Albany “Save Our Safety Net” by restoring $1 billion to the state budget for New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corp.

“This is not about numbers. It is about children, seniors and the infirm — people who desperately need health care,” said District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

“I speak for union members and for the patients we serve here at Bellevue and at every HHC facility,” said Carmen Charles, president of Municipal Hospital Employees Local 420.

“We are here to stand up for health care. We elected politicians to stand up for our rights. Now we need them to show the courage to stand up in difficult times,” Charles said.

“Albany knows this budget is not fair! It’s not fair to patients or to public service employees,” said Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez, who represents HHC clerical workers. “Threatening us with 1,300 layoffs is not fair, and we are fighting back!”

$1 billion deficit

HHC faces a $1 billion budget deficit, state budget funding cuts of $70 million and reductions in Medicaid funding, which provides 78 percent of its budget and is considered the lifeblood of HHC.

HHC is the safety net for poor and uninsured New Yorkers. Its facilities served 452,000 uninsured patients in 2009, a 13 percent increase over 2008. Last year’s closing of voluntary hospitals in Queens and the pending closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan have added to the burden on the public hospital system.

“With the disintegration of the Catholic health-care system in recent years, HHC constitutes the city’s only remaining safety net,” said HHC President Alan D. Aviles.

“We stand strong and committed to protecting New York City’s vital public health-care system so it can continue to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay,” said Roberts, who chairs the Municipal Labor Committee’s HHC sub-committee.

— Alfredo Alvarado