By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO

I worked in a Chicago hospital for 13 years. The hours were long and the job was tough, but I learned a lesson that has stuck with me ever since: It’s the rank-and-file workers who put the caring in health care.

As I organized and represented tens of thousands of hospital workers and led them in strikes, their central role in the vital mission of patient care became even clearer.

And recently, as many New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation facilities have earned top national accreditation ratings, HHC President Dr. Alan D. Aviles and hospital executive directors have regularly credited the dedication and hard work of our union members for the remarkable turnaround of the public hospital system.

Sadly, HHC seems to have forgotten this basic truth in its May restructuring plan, which would lay off these workers wholesale and privatize their jobs. The plan treats employees as costs to be avoided instead of as the beating heart of quality health care.

The plan was created by a consulting firm that HHC paid over $1 million, despite its limited background in the health-care field. While our members are both the front-line workers who actually deliver the services and members of the community who get their own care at public hospitals and clinics, HHC ignored the many constructive recommendations offered by this union.

Of course, it’s no surprise that a contracted-out plan calls for more contracting out. And it’s no secret that some of the companies they might bring in to do our work already have track records showing poor work and histories of generating complaints.

We will be issuing our own report on the destructive downsizing plan, which we believe would undermine HHC’s ability to meet its mandate to provide high-quality health care to all, regardless of ability to pay.

But we are not waiting one minute to fight the immediate harm that would result from some parts of the plan. In August, HHC took concrete steps toward privatizing Brooklyn Central Laundry, and it scheduled Laborer layoffs for September (see 'Protest hits laundry privateers' and 'Laborers blast layoffs').

Fighting layoffs and contracting out

On August 25, as Local 420 laundry workers marched on HHC headquarters with strong support from DC 37 and dozens of locals, our lawyers took action against the privatization plan in state Supreme Court. We charged that HHC is violating its 2005 agreement with the union to bring its laundry work in-house and keep the workers on the job.

And we are pushing to use money from the new $26 billion jobs bill that our national union helped pass to save the jobs of Laborers and other blue-collar workers. I am particularly proud of the role of new AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders in this campaign. After right-wing, anti-public-employee forces declared the bill dead, Saunders ran a “war room” that won the funds for education and health-care jobs by mobilizing a research, organizing and political action drive that convinced Congress to pass the bill.

We are fighting HHC’s devastating downsizing plan on behalf of our members, the public hospitals and the patients, who deserve quality care even if they have no insurance coverage.

Over the years, we have shown our commitment to the mission of HHC. I helped pass the legislation that established HHC in 1970, and DC 37 has worked with the community to defend the public’s health care system against the vicious budget cuts and privatization schemes of governors and mayors. Year after year, our union lobbied in Washington and our members rallied in Albany to get the funds HHC needed.

As other hospitals close and President Barack Obama’s new health legislation is implemented, we want to be sure that HHC is ready to meet the growing health-care needs of the people of New York as well as any future emergencies. It is our responsibility as a public service union to see that HHC management and our elected officials do not weaken HHC’s ability to respond.

Our members are proud of their work, and DC 37 will continue to fight for their right to do a good job for the public and our patients. We fight because we care.