New Haven Independent

Union reps and allies gathered Wednesday outside the hospital on York Street to announce they filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board in Hartford, submitting the signatures necessary (30 percent of eligible workers) to call for a union election. Union reps hope to hold the election before Christmas.

“It is an opportunity for us to have world-class benefits like our coworkers at the university,” said Willie Tart, one of the workers trying to organize.

SEIU/District 1199 Secretary-Treasurer David Pickus (pictured at center) said a majority of the 1,800 service workers eligible to organize have signed union cards. The vote, by secret ballot, requires a simple majority to pass.

Union reps thanked the hospital for agreeing to terms of the organizing drive that go beyond what’s required by the NLRB. The process is being overseen by a third-party arbitrator. Union reps can only use certain spaces within the building to speak to employees. The hospital can’t use mandatory meetings as a platform to voice its anti-union stance.

The hospital is allowed to hold voluntary meetings with employees to discuss reasons not to form a union. YNHH Senior Vice-President Vin Petrini acknowledged YNHH has held forums to do so: “This has never been a neutrality agreement.”

Local 35 President Bob Proto (pictured at top of this story) said the biggest difference is that according to the agreement, the hospital must sit down and negotiate a contract if the union wins the vote.

On the other hand, if the union fails to achieve a majority vote, then organizers have agreed to suspend organizing activities for one year.

Either way, as long as no one has violated the terms of the agreement, said Pickus, “both sides will live with the results of the vote.”

“It’s been a very fair process,” said Petrini. “We’re looking forward to putting this thing to rest.”

“Ultimately, it’s in the hands of our employees. They deserve to have the right to decide their own future.”