Picketers in front of Bon Secours in Port Jervis
PORT JERVIS – Healthcare workers employed at facilities covered
by the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Nursing Homes conducted pickets
on Thursday to protest what they say are stalling tactics by management
negotiators.
Workers walked the informational picket lines at Ferncliff Nursing Home in Rhinebeck, Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern and New York Medical Hospital in Valhalla.
On the Port Jervis picket line, spokeswoman Linda O’Connor is a registered nurse at Bon Secours. She said League management is not willing to bargain fairly.
“They want us to work until we are 67; we used to be able to get out at 62 with 20 years of service and now they want us to go all the way to 67 just as we would with Social Security Health care is back breaking. Many people don’t make it to 65.”
Also at issue are salaries and health benefits, O’Connor said.
The union contract expires in September and the workers set a bargaining deadline of today (September 13) and if management refuses to bargain fairly by then, they won’t return to the bargaining table until the current agreement ends.
