Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Labor contract negotiations continue between Catholic Health and local union members representing nursing staffs at three of the network's hospitals in Western New York.
This past Friday, negotiators for Catholic Health presented a wage and benefit proposal to Communications Workers of America (CWA) union leaders. The hospital says the package includes increased salaries, while maintaining generous pension and health benefits, and staffing ratios that support hospital employees and maintain the highest quality patient outcomes in the region.
With support from an impartial mediator, the hospitals’ leaders and the union exchanged several economic proposals in recent weeks, as they worked toward tentative agreements for nearly 3,000 associates at Kenmore Mercy Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, and Sisters of Charity Hospital — St.
Joseph Campus.
Under the hospitals’ proposal presented, a nurse right out of school would start at $41.79 per-hour before adding pay for things like night and evening hours, extra shifts, and potential bonuses.
In addition, Catholic Health says its health insurance remains one of the most comprehensive traditional health plans in the market, and its prescription plan takes advantage of the system’s buying power to benefit its associates.
"We put on the table an economic package that provides our valued nurses and team members with salaries and benefits that are highly competitive in our region," said Catholic Health president and CEO Joyce Markiewicz in a statement. "We urge all our associates to educate themselves on what the hospitals offered so they can understand how far we’ve come together in their favor in the face of national healthcare uncertainty."
Debbie Hayes, Upstate New York area director with CWA says representatives from Local 1133 and Local 1168 have been at the bargaining table for approximately six months with Catholic Health.
"We made our first set of proposals on March 3, and here we are into September and we're still at it," said Hayes in an interview with WBEN. "At this point, we have approximately 75 open articles, and a significant number of those articles revolve around staffing and our economic package."
Back in 2021, CWA members went on strike for 40 days in order to win staffing ratios, but the problem now for Hayes is in some instances, there's a desire for Catholic Health to move away from what was negotiated four years ago.
"In other instances, they will not include what is currently happening in the hospital in our language," Hayes noted. "[Another] piece is they are not meeting staffing ratios in a significant number of areas. The last piece with staffing is because they are not meeting the ratios in a significant number of areas, we've proposed language on enforcement that will allow us to do expedited arbitration, and get a ruling from from an arbitrator on whether a penalty should be imposed or not."
While Hayes believes the work relationship between Catholic Health and CWA is definitely better than it was four years ago, the problem is the union still sees substantial violations of their previous contract, which makes it frustrating for members who are covered by the agreement, as well as union representatives who are charged with enforcing the agreement.
"I went on strike in 1983 to win our first contract at Buffalo General, so I've lived through a strike and I know the impact that it has on the workers, on the community and on the hospitals. We maintain that our goal is to get an agreement. We do not want to see another strike at Catholic Health," Hayes said. "We are committed to working diligently to get this done, but given the amount of time that we've been at the table and the number of open issues, our members felt firmly it was time to send a message to Catholic Health that they need to get this done."
Last week, CWA called for a strike authorization vote for Sept. 8, which Catholic Health hospital leaders feel is somewhat surprising given the new offer that was presented.
"After eight months of fair and realistic bargaining, we believe our latest offer gets our associates to where they want to be," Markiewicz said. "We believe that this commitment clearly demonstrates how much we value our nurses and staff, who along with our physicians, provide the high-quality care Catholic Health is known for."
Markiewicz says she's committed to demonstrating respect and being fair and equitable in negotiations.
What Hayes would love to see in the coming days before the strike authorization vote is for Catholic Health to open their eyes a bit about what kind of an agreement will be ratified and not ratified by union members.
"Our members will not ratify a contract with concessions. Our members will not ratify a contract that doesn't make them comparable with other health care workers in Western New York. And we have to have some ability to enforce our staffing language," Hayes noted.