AUSTIN — Workers at Loretto Hospital gathered again Wednesday to say contract negotiations have stalled with only “insulting” concessions as the clock ticks on their threat to strike.
A 10-day strike warning delivered to the West Side “safety net” hospital, 645 S. Central Ave., by workers last week will expire 7 a.m. Monday.
Despite the strike warning, Loretto Hospital management “walked away from the bargaining table” Wednesday morning and have not offered a new contract proposal in weeks, said Anne Igoe, a lead negotiator with SEIU Healthcare. The union members’ collective bargaining agreement expired June 30.
About 200 hospital workers represented by SEIU Healthcare could join the strike, alleging they’ve been overworked, underpaid and stretched thin by staffing shortages since the pandemic added pressure on hospital front lines.
The embattled hospital — which reshaped its leadership after corruption scandals over misusing COVID-19 vaccines and sending millions to insiders — is currently offering workers hourly wages about two dollars below industry standards, Igoe said.
Hospital management has not budged on “insulting” 3 percent yearly raises for returning employees, despite factors like inflation, said Greg Kelley, president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois.
Carla Haskins, a patient care specialist and certified nursing assistant, has been at Loretto for five years and said she makes just $17.62 an hour.
“Overall this is about basic respect and dignity,” Haskins said. “We’re here because we want to help our patients, our community and give back. But we can’t continue like this. Sometimes it’s just me on the floor.”
A spokesperson for Loretto said the hospital has been an “engaged, responsive and attentive negotiator” and pointed to contract concessions offered by the employer including the 3 percent raise and two additional floating holidays.
“Including today [Wednesday], our collective bargaining team has been actively negotiating with representatives of the SEIU, and remains committed to reaching a balanced, equitable agreement,” spokesperson Bonni Pear said in a statement. “We value and appreciate every employee of Loretto Hospital and will continue to identify opportunities that support a unified, mutual agreement.”
Union organizers held out hope they could settle before resorting to a strike. But issues of pay, workplace safety and staffing levels still have to be addressed before a strike can be averted, workers and union representatives said.
Igoe said Loretto, however, has refused to offer incentives to workers for picking up understaffed shifts. About 120 union workers have left the hospital in the last year for a 60 percent turnover rate, Igoe said.
Positions like patient sitters, emergency room technicians and nursing assistants are severely understaffed — leading to workplace injuries for those still left to juggle patients, who often receive inadequate and abbreviated care, workers said.
Yolanda McPhearson, a lead crisis worker at Loretto, said she’s had to cut 30-minute mental health assessments down to just 10 minutes. Violence has increased against workers left to their own devices to manage patients in crisis, said Lynda Robinson, a lead mental health specialist at Loretto.
Robinson said at times she must transport people for X-rays, intake others while also watching over patients who may be a fall risk or have suicidal ideations.
“This is a safety issue,” Robinson said. “If we’re trying to do a service for the Black and Brown community, we as Loretto need to do better … We can’t be superheroes every day.”
In attempts to cut costs, the hospital has brought in temporary workers to bandage staffing shortages — sometimes paying them hourly wages three times more than full-timers, Igoe said.
The hospital — which employs a predominantly Black staff and serves low-income patients, many of them Black and Latino — has also refused to recognize Juneteenth as a normal work holiday, Igoe said. Instead, the hospital has offered two additional paid personal days to be used at the employee’s discretion for holidays like Juneteenth.
“We’re using this opportunity to finally address inequalities,” Igoe said. “Bargaining over a couple dollars an hour might not seem like much, but it’s incredibly significant for those living paycheck to paycheck … Workers are starting at Loretto and leaving.”
Loretto workers across positions said they’re often working six to seven days a week, and McPherson added some have taken second or third jobs to scrape by.
“If I can help somebody along the way, then my living is not in vain. That’s why I continue to go to work,” McPherson said. “I don’t see management coming down to the floor to help.”
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