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First Mercy hospital union contract ratified

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By Everdeen Mason, Staff Writer Updated 11:26 AM Wednesday, February 8, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — The first union contract between hospital employees and Community Mercy Health Partners has been ratified after years of labor organizing efforts.

Columbus-based Service Employees International Union now represents 470 employees, most of them in support and service positions at Springfield Regional Medical Center, Mercy Memorial Hospital in Urbana and Mercy McAuley  Center, said Dave Lamb, CMHP spokesman, in an email.

The contract doesn’t cover nurses.

CMHP has about 2,700 employees total, making it one of the largest employers in the area.

Negotiations for the contract took five months, and both sides came to an agreement Jan. 30, he said. Union members voted to ratify the contract Feb. 1 and Feb. 2. Lamb didn’t disclose the details of the contract.

“Over the next few weeks, we will be educating our supervisors on the contract language,” Lamb said. “They continue to have the ability to manage and lead our facilities in the best interest of our patients and residents.”

Officials for SEIU said they were unable to comment before press time Tuesday, but CMHP seems confident that the contract will be effective.

“Much of the contract language will be familiar to employees because it reflects many of our current policies and procedures,” Lamb said. “All work rules still apply to union employees. There are no separate standards giving union employees more money or rights and privileges than nonunion employees have in the workplace.”

This contract is the first time CMHP employees have had union representation, which has been in the works since 2008. Then, CMHP and SEIU attempted to have a unionization vote, but the California Nurses Association caused them to cancel voting after sending members to picket hospitals in protest of the voting process.

The next try, in January 2011, was more successful, and used voting guidelines set by the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference to address tension between Catholic hospitals and unions. Neither SEIU nor CMHP were allowed to solicit employees or discuss the vote with workers leading up to the vote.

The addition of a partially unionized workforce will not affect CMHP operations.

“Daily operations of our facilities will continue business as usual,” Lamb said. “We have maintained the right and the ability to make the right decisions to achieve our mission and deliver high quality of care to the communities we serve.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0371 or emason@coxohio.com.

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