Butler Hospital is focused on negotiating an agreement with SEIU 1199 NE for Butler employees. We aren’t going to be distracted by the union’s tactics at other Care New England Operating Units – we’re focused on you. We want to reach a competitive Total Rewards package that reflects your great work while ensuring financial sustainability for our organization.
Fiction: Butler employees should get the same contract as the one recently settled at Women & Infants Hospital.
Fact: We understand the desire to compare our contract negotiations to those at other hospitals within Care New England, but the truth is each hospital faces very different financial realities. Unfortunately, behavioral health care is historically underfunded, and at Butler nearly 70% of the population we serve is publicly funded by Medicare and Medicaid. Over 40% of our patients are covered by managed Medicaid products. This payor mix further decreases the average per patient revenue received for the services provided at Butler – even though the work that we do is every bit as important. At the same time, the current administration is considering steep cuts to Medicaid. Our 4-year proposal provides staff with predictable wage growth and stability during a time when the landscape of healthcare and the economy are extremely unpredictable.
Fiction: Butler management has been dragging its feet and refusing to negotiate with SEIU 1199 NE.
Fact: Since negotiations began, Butler has put forward numerous proposals and counterproposals, all of which have been posted publicly at butlerinfoforyou.org. Each Butler proposal has shown significant movement and willingness to collaborate to find common ground. On the other hand, the union’s proposals started with unrealistic wage and benefit demands, and since then have offered very little in the way of meaningful counterproposals or attempts to find common ground. The Union has also failed to respond to numerous requests for information that would enable Butler to gain insight into their positions and demands. To help facilitate progress toward a fair deal, the Hospital has proposed that a neutral mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) participate in future bargaining sessions.
Fiction: Butler is trying to pay for wage increases by taking away health and retirement benefits.
Fact: Butler takes a Total Rewards approach to economic proposals. The value of wage increases, health and dental insurance, and retirement benefits are all taken into account in our proposal. While our proposals would include employees contributing a greater share toward costs of some health plans and future employees contributing toward their own retirement plans, the total value of the current proposal more than offsets the impact of those changes. Employees still come out ahead.
Fiction: If the Union goes on strike, Butler will dramatically improve its proposals.
Fact: Regardless of whether a strike happens or not, once the hospital receives a strike notice Butler is forced to spend money setting in motion contingency plans to care for our patients. Money spent preparing for a strike is money we can’t spend on benefits and wage increases. The closer we get to a strike and the more money the hospital has to spend to prepare, the less Butler will have available to offer in maintaining benefits and increasing wages for current employees.
To view specifics of these proposals, please visit the Proposal Updates webpage. There you can view the full text of the contract language, as well as view examples of wage increase proposals over time.
