Health Care Workers Demanding More “Serious” Negotiating from UofR

Professional home care workers

Health Care workers at the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital are accusing the organization of not taking union negotiations seriously.

More than two dozen professional home care workers marched through Strong Memorial Campus yesterday, calling on the University of Rochester CEO and President Kathy Parrinello to provide more dates for bargaining their first contract with longer hours for each session.

“We marched on the boss today because we believe that University of Rochester is not taking our negotiations serious enough,” said Tara Petersen, Physical Therapy Assistant. “We want more sessions with longer times so we can get our first contract settled,” said Petersen.

Currently, workers and management bargain one day per week for approximately six hours

per session, which 1199SEIU Union says is not typical.

“It’s very unusual and not typically how bargaining works,” said Elizabeth Davila, 1199SEIU Administrative Organizer. “We want management to treat negotiations as a high priority for not just staff, but also the patients they serve in their homes.”

1199SEIU says after five months, progress continues to be sluggish following a change in negotiators on the University of Rochester’s side.

A Federal Mediator from Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) has joined negotiations regularly as both sides still have several outstanding non-economic issues on the table including union security language. Non-economic items must be signed off on by both sides before economic talks can begin.

Negotiations are set to resume Tuesday, September 17 at 3:30 P.M.