Public Employee Press

DC 37 battles destructive restructuring plan at HHC:
Laborers blast layoffs

The union has gone to war against the Health and Hospitals Corp.'s plan to fire 59 city Laborers in District Council 37's Local 924 on Sept. 17.

The layoffs are part of HHC's "The Road Ahead" restructuring plan, which was prepared with a consulting firm. The destructive downsizing plan would get rid of more than half of the labor and trades workforce with little regard for HHC's mission of providing quality health care or for the employees who have helped HHC improve its services in recent years.

"HHC is determined to lay off Laborers for no reason," said Local President Kyle Simmons. "They are cutting members' jobs without regard to seniority and refusing to use attrition, offer early-retirement incentives or redeploy them."

"They're not offering anything but the door," said Simmons.

HHC is using 29 small layoff units to circumvent contractual seniority and recall policies. "We could live with units for each borough, but this is excessive," said Simmons.

DC 37 and Local 924 are fighting back. DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts has called on management to avert the cuts, which will put working families on unemployment and welfare and pile more work onto the already overworked Laborers who remain. "These layoffs will put hospitals and the patients they serve in danger," Simmons noted, "because overworking leads to a greater chance of mistakes."

"We are mobilizing our people," Simmons said. "We will let HHC, the community and lawmakers know just how grave this situation is." As PEP went to press, Simmons and Local 924 members were speaking out at a "Town Hall" meeting organized by Elmhurst Hospital's Labor Caucus on Aug. 19 at the Queens hospital.

Laborers help HHC comply with building codes on capital improvements and facility maintenance. They operate forklifts, remove snow, landscape grounds, clean storm drains, and assist skilled trades workers, including plumbers, carpenters, and electricians. They move and re-locate equipment, furniture and offices in hospital complexes. Their work has played a key role in HHC's recent excellent accreditation ratings, which would be endangered by the layoffs.

Personal bias and vendettas

The grim official announcement came in an August letter notifying DC 37 that 59 of HHC's 102 city Laborers, almost 60 percent, are targeted for layoffs, along with 13 other DC 37 members, including Radio Repair Mechanics, Locksmiths and others.

Laborers must be paid prevailing wages, so even contracting out would not save a dime. Simmons said the workers believe HHC is getting rid of people based on "personal feelings and vendettas" and letting supervisors make these crucial decisions "with no uniformity to the process."

Deloitte Consulting LLP estimates that HHC Laborers have averaged 600 hours each in annual overtime for the last five years. This shows HHC is already short-staffed, says the union.

Those HHC Laborers who still have jobs will have to perform more than 2,600 work-hours a year. If HHC fires the workers, more than 150,000 hours of needed work will go undone in the next year, jeopardizing accreditations and putting the hospitals at risk of losing vital federal funds.

"In this bad economy more people need public hospitals, but HHC is steadily eroding services," Simmons said. "We are being asked to do more with less, but how can the remaining Laborers pick up the slack? It's physically impossible. HHC is digging itself into a deep hole."