Strike deadline April 15

WINSTED — Dozens of employees at Laurel Hill Healthcare nursing home could go on strike next week if the workers union cannot reach a new labor agreement with the facility’s management by Thursday, April 15.

New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, informed Spectrum Healthcare, the Vernon-based agency that runs the 108 East Lake St. facility, that their union members employed by the company would strike and picket beginning on April 15 at 6 a.m. if no collective bargaining agreement was reached by that time.

According to Deborah Chernoff, a union spokesperson, a total of 400 employees could go on strike 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 Spectrum expired in March 2009, has 62 members employed at Laurel Hill.

“This is a dispute that’s been going on a very long time,� Chertoff said.

In response to the threat of a possible strike, Spectrum has been running help wanted advertisements in local daily newspapers. The ads say the company seeks to hire “permanent replacement employees to work due to a potential labor dispute.�

Chenoff called the help wanted ads “an unusually aggressive stance by an employer� during a collective bargaining period.

“It’s a pressure tactic,� she said, adding that Spectrum appears to be saying that those employees who choose to strike could lose their jobs as a result.

“We do see this as a kind of strong-arm tactic,� Chernoff said.

Laurel Hill administrators did not respond to calls from The Journal requesting comment on the possibility of a strike.

But in a letter posted on its Web site Tuesday, Spectrum stated that it is “currently negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable labor agreement� with the union and that the company is “fully prepared to continue to provide uninterrupted quality, safe care to all of our patients.

“Indeed, your doctors will continue to direct and manage your care, and as necessary, be assisted in those efforts by our over 200 employees not affected by the strike as well as fully-licensed and qualified health-care professionals who would replace striking employees in the event of a strike,� the company reported in the unsigned letter. “In addition, appropriate security measures have been taken to ensure that family members and other visitors can easily enter and exit our facilities without disruption.�

Chernoff 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.�

Spectrum, so far, has refused to agree to similar terms, she said.

Chernoff added that the union also has concerns regarding health and safety issues at the sites.

The union has scheduled talks with the company over the next few days. Chernoff said she hopes the two sides can reach an agreement before next Thursday’s deadline.

“We’re going to keep trying to work toward resolving this,� she said.