PHILADELPHIA, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Henry Nicholas, President of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, and its local affiliate District 1199C, said today that unless ongoing contract talks with area hospitals and health care facilities lead to a contract his members can live with, Philadelphia could see a disruption in the health care system on the eve of an anticipated two million visitors arriving in the city for July fourth weekend activities.
More than 50 contracts between District 1199C and area health care institutions will expire on June 30, 2005. The ongoing contract talks affect some 10,000 District 1199C members and their families. Nicholas has been spearheading negotiations aimed at securing contracts which assure quality care for patients and health benefits for the workers who care for them. Those two issues, he said, are inextricably linked.
Labor movement and community leaders, political figures and others will lend their support to District 1199C at a rally of the membership on Monday, June 6, at 5:30 p.m. at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Guests include Richard L. Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO; Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey; Bill George, President of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO; and Jeff Brooks, President of Local 234 of the Transport Workers Union. At the rally, a strike vote will be taken in which the membership is expected to authorize the Union to call a strike if contract settlements cannot be reached by the deadline.
Nicholas noted that Richard Trumka’s participation in the rally is indicative of the support of the AFL-CIO and the labor movement nationally for the issues in these Philadelphia negotiations. Nicholas pointed out that the AFL-CIO’s own research into health care policy in America has determined that “health care costs are rising at five times the rate of inflation. Employers are responding to these growing cost pressures by shifting more and more health care costs onto workers, especially through larger co-pays and deductibles that must be paid at the time treatment is sought. Other cost increases hitting workers include larger hikes in the cost of family coverage, less access to needed prescription drugs through stricter HMO formularies and higher prices for more comprehensive coverage.”
The U.S. system of providing health care coverage is employer-based, Nicholas noted. Employers must pay their fair share. “Neither we nor anyone else in the city,” said Henry Nicholas, “want to see a strike which will disrupt some of the city’s major hospitals and health care facilities at a time when millions of visitors will be here for Live 8 and July Fourth festivities. But the issues we face in these negotiations are crucial to the well-being of our membership and the health of our communities, and we will do what we must to get what we need.”
National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees District 1199C
CONTACT: Henry Nicholas, District 1199C, +1-215-735-1300
