Meriter Union Braces For Hard Bargaining

The new management at Meriter Hospital doesn't seem to get what being a unionized employer in a Union town means. At a February 3 exchange of bargaining issues for the Service and Support bargaining unit represented by SEIU Healthcare District 1199 Wisconsin, Meriter management certainly showed not only an ignorance of unions, but a real disdain for union wages and benefits.

“It was bad enough that Meriter wants to decrease and even eliminate benefits, but the real corker was the discontinuation of seniority pay and layoff protections,” said Brenda Frary, a cook in the Food and Nutrition department. “This is worse than 1987 when we came close to a strike.”

Meriter is also proposing to eliminate union leave and provisions for union dues and COPE checkoff. Meriter’s stated reason for their position is that none of these provisions “benefits Meriter”.

“Apparently, Meriter's new management doesn't understand that labor peace and the continued support from the Madison community is a benefit to Meriter,” said Dian Palmer, president of SEIU Healthcare District 1199 Wisconsin.

You Get What You Pay For

Meriter has benefited from union good will and a reputation for paying union wages and benefits, resulting in a secure, highly qualified workforce that maintains a superior level of excellence in quality patient care, say union leaders. That reputation becomes an open question, based on the position the hospital’s new management is taking at the bargaining table.

“Our community depends on jobs that pay good wages and provide decent benefits,” said Meriter RN Mary Malaney. “We will not sit back and let Meriter erode these standards.” Malaney says that nurses (whose contract expires in 2013) understand that the quality of patient care at Meriter depends on the excellent work of housekeepers, nursing assistants, food service and other support staff. “We can't do it without them, and neither can Meriter management,” said Malaney.

Weekly bargaining sessions are scheduled through early March. “SEIU will put the backing of our entire union behind the Meriter Service and Support unit,” said Palmer. “Meriter has no idea what they are in for, if their union busting tactics continue.”