Union petition filed
Toledo Hospital workers seek proper staffing

Workload and staffing are top concerns of employees at Toledo (Ohio) Hospital as they move forward their organizing campaign. Left to right: Rick Dankert, Will Szymanski, Lora Hyde, Cindy Miller and her nephew Angelo Tomasi, 2, and Sheree Schreiner.

Marjorie Smith, a 14-year veteran of Toledo Hospital, pulled no punches when she addressed her co-workers and UAW supporters on the evening of Feb. 13.

“We don’t have the kind of patient care we need,” said Smith, a licensed practical nurse. She spoke at a rally called to kick off a UAW organizing campaign for Toledo Hospital workers. With a lack of proper staffing, she said, “There are literally times when it is unsafe for our patients.”

“It’s time,” said Smith, “to rock ProMedica’s world.”

ProMedica is the health care corporation that owns Toledo Hospital and several other health care facilities in the Toledo area. Although the company claims it will respect the right of hospital workers to decide whether they want a union, the National Labor Relations Board has already charged 11 company executives and supervisors with illegal harassment of union supporters.

Nine union supporters were illegally disciplined, the labor board stated, and the company created “an impression among its employees that their union activities were under surveillance.”

ProMedica’s campaign of fear has failed, so far, to silence union supporters. On Feb.14, workers from four hospital bargaining units--nurses, technical workers, support staff and skilled maintenance workers--visited NLRB offices in Cleveland to file petitions for an election to determine whether a majority of workers want to join the UAW.

“Our issues are workload and staffing,” said Cindy Miller, a registered nurse at Toledo Hospital. “It’s hard to give quality care when you have too many patients to take care of at one time.”

Under U.S. labor law, an election is scheduled when at least one-third of workers sign petitions requesting union representation. UAW supporters at Toledo Hospital have exceeded the one-third requirement, with a majority of support in each of the four bargaining units.

“You’ve worked hard to get to this point,” said Lloyd Mahaffey, director of UAW Region 2B, during the Toledo workers kick-off rally on February 13. “We’re proud of you, and we look forward to having Toledo Hospital workers as part of Region 2B UAW.”

Toledo Hospital executives, Mahaffey said, have an obligation to respect workers’ rights and follow U.S. labor law. “UAW members and UAW families purchase a lot of health care services in the city of Toledo,” he said. “We care how Toledo Hospital treats their employees, and we care how they behave when employees exercise their right to form a union and join the UAW.”

The UAW has more than 90,000 active and retired members in northwestern Ohio. This includes more than 2,000 health care workers from St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, who are now members of UAW Local 12.

St. Vincent workers joined the UAW in 1999 and last year negotiated a solid first agreement, which includes increased wages and pensions, improved health care, limits on mandatory overtime, and a joint labor-management committee to improve health care.

Dwight Gamble, a surgical technician, was one of several members of the UAW-St. Vincent bargaining committee who attended the Feb. 13 kickoff.

“Nobody understands what you’re going through the way we do over at St. V’s,” he told the crowd. “I heard someone say, ‘it’s a long road ahead of you.’ No. The long road is behind you--when you did all that work with no benefits. That’s the long road. You’re moving forward now.”

The NLRB is expected to schedule an election within the next 45 to 60 days.

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