Ansonia Aldermen Want Strike To End

The Board of Aldermen Tuesday approved a resolution urging Spectrum Healthcare management to “immediately” return to the bargaining table with union workers at two local nursing homes who have been on strike since April 15.

But Sean Murphy, the chief financial officer for Spectrum, says they never stopped bargaining.

“We will continue to negotiate in good faith and try to reach an acceptable agreement,” Murphy said.

He said Spectrum has negotiation meetings scheduled with local union leaders at Birmingham Health Center in Derby on July 14 and at Hilltop Health Center in Ansonia on June 28.

Union officials have a different take on the situation.

“They have made the negotiations so difficult and so non-productive that they might have well have abandoned them,” said Deborah Chernoff, the communications director for the New England Health Care Employees Union. “They’ve created roadblocks to getting a contract in place.”

Background

The union workers at four nursing homes — including Birmingham and Hilltop — went on strike April 15, citing poor health and safety records at the facilities and asking for 2.5 percent raises to go into effect this year, instead of next.

The workers have been without a contract since March 2009.

For eight weeks now, workers have marched outside the facilities, chanting and holding signs.

Talks during that time have not yielded any agreements and the workers sought help from the Ansonia Board of Aldermen this week.

The Resolution

About 25 union workers crowded the meeting room at Ansonia City Hall Tuesday, urging the board to sign a resolution in support of an agreement between the union and Spectrum Care management.

“We’re asking for help,” said Cynthia Bednar, a certified nurses aide at Hilltop Health in Ansonia. “We love our patrons and we want them back.”

The workers said they’re not trying to get rich, they’re only trying to make a fair wage for the difficult job they do.

The Board of Aldermen approved the resolution, which asks Spectrum to “bargain in good faith” and to “negotiate in good faith an equitable means of resolution of the terminations and suspensions of Hilltop Health Center employees.”

Some aldermen said it’s not typically the board’s place to get involved.

“My mind says we need to mind our own business,” said Acting Mayor Stephen Blume. “But my heart says differently.”

Referees?

One member of the Board of Aldermen objected to the resolution, saying that government should act as referees, not active participants in negotiations.

“In terms of the city’s role, I very much believe a government has to keep to acting as a referee, to make sure the rules are being followed and to make sure both sides have access to their rights,” said John Marini.

“To go beyond that role as a referee and get onto the field, I believe that’s improper,” Marini said.

But other aldermen argued that the resolution only asked Spectrum to continue negotiations for the sake of the employees.

“You really don’t want to take a side, but these people need to be helped,” Blume said.

Several board members personally thanked the workers at the meeting for their help dealing with elderly parents at one of the nursing homes.

The Negotiations

Murphy said Spectrum has offered a contract to the workers that would extend to 2015, offer a 2.5 percent raise in the first year, and make the wages beyond that tied to any changes in Medicaid payments.

That’s how nursing homes get reimbursed, Murphy said.

“If Medicaid goes up, we pass that increase on,” Murphy said of the proposal. “If it goes down, wages could go down. If it’s flat, wages would remain the same.”

The union countered with an offer of a five year contract with a 4 percent increase each year.

“We expected them to respond to the proposal,” Chernoff said. “Their response was just to reject it. That’s not how negotiations work.”

In the meantime, Spectrum has hired “permanent replacement workers,” Murphy said.

Click play on the video at left to see workers striking on April 15 in Derby.