URochester workers voted Oct. 22 to hold an informational picket to discuss and raise community awareness about the proposed changes to their contract.
After more than 20 bargaining sessions, the URochester and Strong Memorial Hospital administrations have rejected proposals for a living wage and safe work environment. It has been a slow-going process, in part because the URochester management team takes hours to respond or fails to respond entirely.
Two branches of Service Employee Union International (SEIU) have been meeting with URochester management for more than two months now. One branch of SEIU, 1199, represents a range of Strong Memorial Hospital employees such as new union members and home care equipment technicians.
“You want us to deal with bile, feces, urine, throw-up, blood. That right there alone is a safety hazard for us,” said environmental service worker London Williams in a video posted to the 1199 SEIU Facebook page on Oct. 15. “We come here to work sick, tired, stressed out, depressed, whatever things may be. We come here every day. All we ask is an increase in money and [to] leave our medical insurance alone.”
The other branch of SEIU, Local 200United, represents University campus employees from the Douglass Dining Hall staff to campus shuttle drivers. The branch’s Executive Vice President, Dawn Marshall-Hosier, has been working at the University since before many members of the first-year class were born.
“There are hundreds of vacancies as members and staff leave the University for higher wages. This results in more work for the staff who remain, causing burnout,” she said in a recent press release.
According to Tracey Harrison, lead negotiator and vice president for the 1199 Corning district, in a social media video, URochester has offered annual 1.5% wage increases for the next three years; however, this is accompanied by an increase in insurance co-pays.
Additionally, the University is proposing changes which would diminish the non-discrimination language of the contracts even as they push the “Ever Better, Together” campaign and, according to URochester’s website, claim to be “guided by respect, care, and a commitment to building spaces where varied perspectives are welcomed and celebrated.” The change would see the substantial change or removal of a clause which protects minorities and prohibits discrimination.
