POUGHKEEPSIE – Hospital workers from three area hospitals held an informational picket and march on Thursday afternoon near Vassar Brothers Medical Center (VBMC). Members of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers, numbering nearly 1,000 at the Poughkeepsie hospital, have been negotiating with Nuvance Health, the VBMC parent company since their contract expired at the end of September.
Local 1199 workers gathered at the rally also claim that Nuvance is “out of touch” with their employees when it comes to racial demographics. Many African-American members are disgruntled because Nuvance refuses to include Juneteenth as a holiday in the contract. Juneteenth, which marks the emancipation of slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865, was declared a federal holiday in 2021.
Local 1199 Executive Vice-president Greg Speller told Mid-Hudson News that Juneteenth should be in the contract.
“It’s such an important holiday to have the employer recognize in a contract given that many of our members are people of color and it’s such a significant holiday. Nuvance, here, as well as other places, is out of step with others in the Hudson Valley, is out of step with their competitors in the Hudson Valley,” Speller said. “We hope they see the importance of adding that holiday to the contract.”
Twenty-three-year VBMC employee Sheila Ennis, a Patient Care Technician in the pediatrics ward, is the great-granddaughter of a slave. “Juneteenth is important to me, my family, and many of my coworkers, because we worked so hard to be recognized. We fought for this day,” she said, noting that her great-grandfather “worked in the fields” as an enslaved person. Local 1199 officials noted that many other hospitals in the Hudson Valley recognize the holiday.
For months, workers, patients, elected officials, and healthcare advocates have been protesting the long waits in emergency rooms, labs, and every other department at VBMC and Putnam Hospital. The union claims that it is not unusual for patients to leave VBMC emergency department after an extended wait, and seek care elsewhere. Mid-Hudson News reporters have received several complaints about the wait times at the new VBMC from patients or their caregivers.
The union members claim that the wait times for care at VBMC and Putnam Hospital in Carmel are the result of short-staffing because Nuvance is not actively pursuing new staff to help with the workload. Nuvance has repeatedly claimed that the staffing shortage is nationwide and increased when the pandemic arrived. Members of Local 1199 say that the rate of pay offered by Nuvance is not enticing new applicants. At VBMC, many Patient Care Technicians earn $16.71 per hour. The union says that the rate needs to be raised to one that pays a worker a “living wage”, allowing the employee to help with big expenses such as rent and feeding a family.
