Laurel Hill picket line gets tense

WINSTED — Dozens of Laurel Hill Healthcare employees continued to strike at the the Highland Lake facility this week, and tensions grew as the workers’ union and the nursing home’s management company remained at a stalemate regarding contract negotiations.

New England Health Care Employees Union District 1199 members took to the picket lines Thursday, April 15, at 6 a.m., after the union and Spectrum Healthcare — the Vernon-based agency that runs the 108 East Lake St. nursing home — failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.

Some 400 employees in all walked off the job at four of Spectrum’s six nursing homes in Connecticut: Birmingham Health Center in Derby, Hilltop Health Center in Ansonia, Park Place in Hartford and Laurel Hill.

The union, whose contract with the management company expired in March 2009, has 62 members employed at Laurel Hill.

The striking employees said they decided to strike only as a last resort, after they felt that the company was no longer bargaining in good faith.

“We would rather be in there taking care of the people who we know,� Ash Sipper, a union employee picketing at Laurel Hill, told The Journal Tuesday.

In response to the threat of a strike, Spectrum hired dozens of permanent replacement workers after recently running help wanted advertisements in several local daily newspapers stating the company sought to hire “permanent replacement employees to work due to a potential labor dispute.�

Union leadership has said the hiring of permanent, as opposed to temporary, workers is a strong-arm tactic employed in an attempt to discourage employees from striking for fear of losing their jobs.

In an April 16 press release, District 1199 Vice President Almena Thompson alleged that since the contract has expired Spectrum “has illegally fired dozens of workers and intimidated others� throughout all four facilities, which she called “serious violations of federal law.�

Over the past few months, the union has filed a series of charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board. Deborah Chernoff, communications director for District 1199, said the company is now under investigation for unfair labor practices by the federal agency.

“It’s not just the individual incidents,� Chernoff said. “It’s a pattern of behavior.�

But Sean Murphy, Spectrum’s chief financial officer, told The Journal Tuesday the union’s unfair labor practices claims are “utterly false.�

“It sounds like the union leadership is trying to justify their poor decision to engage in an economic strike,� Murphy said, adding that Spectrum had alerted union members that if they did decide to strike the company would hire permanent replacement workers.

“Certainly we would have preferred if they didn’t strike,� Murphy said. “But we’ve been very clear: ‘We hope you don’t [strike], but if you do, this is what we’re going to do.’�

Striking workers at Laurel Hill, however, said Tuesday that the intimidation has reached beyond their own union members, telling The Journal that a registered nurse employed at the facility was suspended by Spectrum on Saturday, April 17, after the nursing home’s management took pictures of her fraternizing with District 1199 employees the day before.

Registered nurses at Laurel Hill are employed under a separate contract and represented by a different union.

“It’s completely outrageous,� Chernoff said of the suspension, adding that the nurse was on her day off when she visited with the striking employees. “People have a right to speak with who they want … she was doing absolutely nothing wrong.�

She said the suspension has sent a chilling message to the nursing home’s other employees.

“And that message is: ‘We’ll fire anyone else who supports you,’� Chernoff said.

Murphy, however, said while he would not comment on any specific incidents, Spectrum’s contract with the nursing staff at Laurel Hill specifies that the registered nurses are not allowed “to engage in any striking or picketing.�

“So they would be prohibited� to join a picket line, he said.

When asked if that includes just talking with friends and fellow co-workers who were part of a picket line, but not actually joining the strike itself, Murphy responded that he “can’t really say what went on in this particular case.�

The union has also said it has concerns regarding Spectrum’s health and safety record for employees at its nursing homes.

Union leaders point to a March 10 letter from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) that named all four of the company’s Connecticut facilities where members currently are striking as one of 15,000 work sites “with the highest numbers of injuries and illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activities or job transfers.�

Last week District 1199 began a television advertising campaign that highlights these health and safety concerns.

Murphy, however, said about 110 other nursing homes in Connecticut received the same letter and designation last month. He added that, unfortunately, working in a nursing home can at times be a very physical environment and therefore lead to a higher level of employee injury than other career fields.

“We take safety very seriously,� he said.

Striking union members also point out that Spectrum is seeking to reduce wages for those on “light duty� — shifts employees may work while recuperating from an injury sustained while on the job — down to $10 an hour.

“We work hard. And sometimes we get injured. But when we get injured, we shouldn’t get punished for it,� Brenda Crispin, a union member who has worked for eight years at Laurel Hill, said Tuesday.

“They would rather have workers come in here and work for less,� Crispin, a Torrington resident, said.

But Murphy said if an employee was injured on the job, they would receive two-thirds of their regular pay from disability while they remained at home during their recovery period. If, however, that employee chose to come in and work light duty while recovering, they would be able to earn an extra $10 for each hour of a shift they worked.

“So, without the light duty, they would only be earning two-thirds of their pay,� Murphy said.

Thompson said the union has reached recent agreements with several other nursing home companies that include a 2.5-percent wage increase in the second year and “improvements in the cost of health insurance coverage� without having to call a strike.

“The union is the same, the contract terms very similar — the only difference is the company in question, Spectrum,� she said.

Murphy said Spectrum has sent District 1199 officials a set of dates to resume negotiations, but as of late Tuesday afternoon had “not yet received a reply from them.�

The two sides last met on April 13 in Ansonia, along with a federal mediator.

Chernoff said the union has been communicating through the mediator since the strike began and hopes to have a meeting date set to resume negotiations soon.

“Obviously, we have to get back to the table,� she said.