Catholic Health is putting forward a new labor contract offer to the union that represents nurses and other hospital staff as workers prepare to vote on whether to authorize a strike.
In a statement, Catholic Health administrators said their latest proposal includes starting pay of $41.79 for nurses “right out of school,” as well as “generous” pension and health benefits, and staffing ratios that “support hospital employees.”
Whatever contract the parties agree to will cover 3,000 employees at Kenmore Mercy Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Buffalo and Sisters of Charity Hospital’s St. Joseph Campus.
“After eight months of fair and realistic bargaining, we believe our latest offer gets our associates to where they want to be,” Catholic Health President and CEO Joyce Markiewicz, herself a former nurse, said. “We believe that this commitment clearly demonstrates how much we value our nurses and staff, who along with our physicians, provide the high-quality care Catholic Health is known for.”
Catholic Health and union leaders at CWA have reached agreements on seniority, filling vacant positions, and disability and workers’ compensation, among other issues — but they remain “very far apart” in other areas, per CWA.
“We’re looking at what salaries are being paid at other health care facilities in Western New York. We want to be comparable with where the other facilities are. We want to make sure that we negotiate enough of a step in or general wage increase to keep up with those,” CWA Buffalo Area Director Debbie Hayes told unionized workers at a virtual town hall on Tuesday. “We know that we’re heading in the right direction on wage issues. We are just not there yet.”
Union workers announced last week that employees at Mercy Hospital of Buffalo would vote on whether to authorize a strike on Sept. 8. Only workers at that location can go on strike, per workers’ current bargaining agreement.
Theresa Shaffer, the lead organizer at CWA’s Buffalo office, told workers that the strike authorization vote was meant to put pressure on Catholic Health management.
“We successfully did this in 2016 where we went to a strike vote, and that was enough to make movement at the bargaining table to get a good agreement,” Shaffer said. “That is also the hope this time: that the strike vote will be enough to warn management to take us seriously so that we can get a good agreement without needing to go on strike.”
In their statement, Catholic Health administrators called that decision “somewhat surprising given the new offer that was presented.”
