Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's back to work for thousands of health care workers after a 35 day strike against Mercy Hospital and Catholic Health has officially ended.
It was announced late Monday night by the Communication Workers of America its workers have voted 94% in favor of ratifying their contracts with Catholic Health. This officially brings an end to a five-week strike between nurses, technical, service and clerical staff and Mercy Hospital of Buffalo.
After weeks of intense back-and-forth negotiations between both parties and with the strike now over, it's time for the workers to return to Mercy Hospital, which is expected to happen around 7 a.m. EST on Wednesday. CWA area director was very impressed with the support the group received from its workers with the new contracts in place going forward.
"The numbers were absolutely incredible," Hayes said on Tuesday. "You're always going to have people that vote no. In my entire career, we've brought some incredibly wonderful contracts back for people to look at, and you always have some no votes, but I'm telling you the response from our members at our ratification meetings Saturday, Sunday at Mercy, and then [Monday] at Kenmore and at St. Joe's was incredibly positive."
"We have a private Facebook group with the entire hospital and other hospitals, and what I get out of it is that everybody is kind of anxious to go back," CWA Local 1133 President, Jackie Ettipio said on Wednesday. "They miss their patients, and when you're doing something you love, you're automatically in a good mood. And then when you're helping somebody and somebody is saying, 'thank you,' because that's what we live for, you're also brought up. So you're walking in positive, and if you have more time to spend with the woman who lost her son but she's in there with chest pains now, you feel good about yourself, because you helped here so you're going to feel good to your manager, and it's just going to feed on."
As the workers prepare to head back to work on Wednesday morning, there is some thought that there could still be some tension between both sides after some heated negotiations, at times, during the strike. Emergency room registered nurse Maureen Kryszak said there probably will be some bad blood still residing upon a return to duty, but the workers are ready to walk in through the doors with their heads held high.
"We are stronger today than when we were two months ago, because we walked these sidewalks together as a group. And we grew closer and stronger, and we bonded as a family," Kryszak said. "And we didn't just bond with us. We bonded with our friends with [CWA Local] 1168, our St. Joe's friends, our Kenmore friends. We have the support from everywhere. The community, locals, politicians. There's managers that are going to give a hard time and managers that are not, but we're going to walk in with our heads held high, we're going to back each other up and we're going to stand strong, knowing that our union is still behind us."
Despite the potential for some tensions to remain for a while, Hayes believes the work they did during the strike will give the staff at Mercy Hospital more of a voice on working conditions going forward. With that, this will hopefully build a respect and understanding between all parties.
"If we walk back in and it's apparent that Catholic Health heard those concerns and comments, then members are going to respond positively, because that's really all they want," Hayes said. "They want to go in, they want to have a safe, clean work environment. They want to have good work conditions. They want to have a mutually respectful relationship, work relationship with their managers. So it may take a little bit of time to get there, but I'm confident that if everybody puts their mind to it, we will."
"People are going to go back more positive than when they left, so I think it's going to be way better than what it was," Ettipio echoed Hayes. "As long as management respondes in a positive manner and continues the ratios, I think that it's only going to grow, and I think we're going to see a beautiful community, and that's what we hope for and that's what I see."
Looking back on the weeks that finally led to this point, Ettipio knows that there will be many questions people will have about the negotiations, including herself.
"Is something written wrong? Could we have written something a little bit stronger? Did we not do enough money? Maybe we should have held out longer. There's a lot to have on you," Ettipio said. "But I think when we go back, the feedback I get is that people are ready, and everything was an effort. One person gone I don't think we could've made it. I mean, it was literally a team effort. I don't know, maybe I'm living on fairy dust right now, but I just feel that everything is going to go well."
You can listen to Tuesday's entire CWA press conference from Mercy Hospital below:
