Hundreds of hospital workers protest as contract negotiations continue
On Wednesday, hundreds of workers from the Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island protested as negotiations continue between their union and hospital administration. Dana Ciolfi, a medical technologist, said workers are ready to act if their concerns are not addressed. Ciolfi is a Service Employees...
On Wednesday, hundreds of workers from the Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island protested as negotiations continue between their union and hospital administration. Dana Ciolfi, a medical technologist, said workers are ready to act if their concerns are not addressed. Ciolfi is a Service Employees International Union delegate representing union members during negotiations with the hospital.
“They have put their faith in those of us, there are about 45 of us, that are sitting around this table, trying to come to a fair contract for them. They do not want to strike, but they will,” Ciolfi said.
According to Ciolfi, understaffing is the primary concern for union workers.
“We’ve had very few new people hired and it’s impacting pretty much every area of the hospital,” she said. According to Ciofli, these staffing problems are causing many employees to work overtime, often without time for lunch and other breaks.
But staffing is not the problem according to Angelleen Peters-Lewis, a System Chief Nurse and the Senior Vice President of Care New England, which owns the Women and Infants Hospital.
“This is not about staffing. We meet or exceed our national benchmarks for staffing. This is about introducing a scheduling process that allows us to meet the needs of patients and families,” Peters-Lewis said.
According to Amy Blustein, Director of Marketing for Care New England, these benchmarks Peters-Lewis mentioned refer specifically to the hospital’s core staff members. Bluestein said the hospital is focused on filling vacancies.
Contract negotiations between the union and hospital are scheduled to continue into next week. The union’s current contract expired on December 1st, but has been temporarily extended.
Photo credit: Anna Blais. Workers from Women and Infants Hospital picketing outside Care New England headquarters.