nothin An Outraged City Confronts A Hospital’s… | New Haven Independent

An Outraged City Confronts A Hospital’s Betrayal

IMG_6674.JPGYale New-Haven Hospital CEO Marna Borgstrom literally turned her back on union supporters who crashed a meeting Thursday, then was lambasted by state and city leaders for betraying community trust and breaking federal law governing an organizing drive for 1,800 blue-collar hospital workers. Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. called for card-check neutrality and disbanding the hospital’s board of trustees.

The remarkable stand-off capped a day of public outrage over the hospital’s tactics which led to the destruction of a peace agreement and the postponement of a long-awaited Dec. 20 and 21 unionizing election.

Standing outside the hospital Thursday, one day after an arbitrator issued a seething ruling saying Yale-New Haven had broken federal law by conducting anti-union tactics, DeStefano and others said they felt duped” and betrayed.

This was a premeditated, methodical, comprehensive undermining of virtually every aspect of that agreement,” said the mayor, referring to the conduct agreement he helped broker as part of the settlement to make way for YNHHs Cancer Center.

Margaret M. Kern, a neutral arbitrator agreed upon by both sides, ruled Wednesday YNHH broke not only the agreement, but federal law and previous arbitrator rulings by continuing to pressure workers to vote no.” “[It] appears the employer has given permission to over 200 managers and supervisors to conduct mandatory meetings on work time to discuss the union with employees,” wrote Kern. (Click here to read more about that.) The National Labor Relations Board Thursday adopted her recommendation to indefinitely postpone the union election, which had been set for Dec. 20 and 21.

Politicians and union supporters who poured onto the hospital’s sidewalks Thursday called the damage done by anti-union activities irreversible.

I think it is impossible to have a free and fair election at Yale New-Haven today,” said DeStefano, joined by state legislators, Attorney General Dick Blumenthal and a dozen aldermen.

New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney called the hospital’s behavior the worst form of cynicism and bad faith imaginable… It’s hard to imagine how we could rely on the hospital’s word on anything” anymore.

It is not just us that is being insulted, it is the entire community of New Haven,” chimed in New Haven State Rep. Toni Walker.

IMG_6668.JPGBlumenthal held up the arbitrator’s report: This is solid, verified, irrefutable evidence of lawbreaking.”

To fight back against the documented coercion by 200 anti-union managers, DeStefano called for a measure that would greatly boost labor’s odds in the union drive: Instead of a secret ballot election, he advocated the hospital recognize card-check neutrality, where a union is established by getting 51 percent of eligible members to sign union cards.

He also called for state legislators to examine the governance of the hospital board of trustees, which he said needs to include someone who understands the needs of the community.” I have no confidence in the management and board of this hospital anymore “” they broke that commitment.”

Click here to hear some of DeStefano’s remarks, recorded by Melinda Tuhus.

Looney said he isn’t sure what legislative power the State Senate has to dismantle non-profit boards, but he will explore all avenues to do so. Blumenthal said of his office, our authority is unclear, but we’re going to explore every avenue” to investigate the hospital’s wrongdoings.

Confessing to wrongdoing for the first time, hospital spokesman Vin Petrini said Thursday, We obviously regret that those meetings took place.”

I can tell you that the meetings did occur, and when we learned of them, we asked managers not to hold them, and schedule them in that manner,” he said.

While politicians blasted the hospital for a premeditated” anti-union campaign, Petrini downplayed the meetings as isolated incidents” occurring within a short period of time.” It was never the intent of this organization to act outside this agreement.”

The Encounter

IMG_6654.JPGJust two hours before the public lambasting, a crowd of Yale University clerical workers gathered on the steps of the Yale School of Medicine to call on the dean and YNHH board member Dr. Robert J. Alpern to publicly denounce YNHHs anti-union practices.

It is time for the university to join with the rest of the community “¬¶ in condemning the hospital’s anti-union campaign, and standing by the principles of labor, peace and partnership agreed upon in our last union contract,” called Laura Smith, president of Yale University’s pink-collar union, Local 34, through a megaphone.

Though she didn’t know it, Yale University President Rick Levin had already sent off a seething missive condemning the hospital’s betrayal of an agreement Yale helped draft.

After a brief rally, Smith got word that hospital managers were meeting in an auditorium just down the street. Let’s go over there!”

What’s disgusting? Union busting!” cried union organizers as a crowd of roughly 100 supporters, mostly Yale University pink-collar employees, marched down the sidewalk. Hey hey, ho ho, this union-busting’s got to go!”

Supporters’ cries echoed inside a Cedar Street building. Inside, managers wearing blue YNHH ribbons filled auditorium seats. As labor advocates crashed the meeting, managers, including the hospital president and CEO Marna Borgstrom, got up and turned their backs to the intruders. Click on the arrow to watch.

Shame! Shame!” cried a UNITE HERE organizer as tension grew. Click on the play arrow to watch.

IMG_6642.JPGIn a matter of minutes, the meeting was broken up, with managers filing out the door, escorted by union chants.

They’re lowering their standards,” muttered one manager filing out the door. They should be ashamed of themselves,” said another. A half-dozen managers asked declined to give their names.

The Next Step

The NLRB ruling did not set a next date for the union election, according to John Cotter, assistant regional director of the NLRB in Hartford. He said SEIU just filed a complaint with the NLRB (in addition to over 200 complaints filed with the arbitrator) Wednesday charging nine allegations against the hospital.

The charges would have to be resolved before an election is scheduled.”

SEIU spokesman Bill Meyerson said card-check neutrality would be one possible remedy,” but he’d wait until NLRB rulings to see what should happen next.

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