Butler Memorial Hospital techs vote to authorize possible strike
Nine months after beginning negotiations for their first union contract, 92% of Butler Memorial Hospital’s techs voted to authorize a potential strike Thursday evening, April 23.
According to a release from the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals said the vote reflects “growing frustration with the hospital’s proposals, which workers say threaten patient care and staff retention.”
The strike authorization vote authorizes the union’s bargaining committee to submit a 10-day strike notice if the techs’ issues remain inadequately addressed. It does not mean a strike will happen immediately, just that it can.
“Our wages have been stagnant, our benefits have been taken away from us and many of our colleagues have left,” Lori Daniel, a lead ultrasound technologist at the hospital, said. “My colleagues and I want to keep our dedicated and skilled staff here and make Butler Memorial a great place to work again. Forming a Union gave us a seat at the table to help advocate for and implement much-needed changes. We will benefit, of course, but so will our patients and so will the hospital.”
The techs’ central issue is that wages should be tied to recruitment, retention and confer respect for their professions and the experience they bring to the hospital and the Butler patient community.
Wages for technical staff are currently “well below the market” and most have not received a raise in two years or more, according to the PASNAP release. New hires are routinely brought in at a higher rate than experienced techs, the release said.
Even in the hospital’s recent wage-scale proposal, about 140 of the 235 surgical techs, respiratory therapists, LPNs, radiology techs and others that voted to form the union would see their wages frozen during the contract.
“BMH is choosing not to invest in our workforce, effectively freezing wages,” Brooke Weisenstein, an echo tech at the hospital, said. “That’s not a solution — it’s a fast track to losing experienced techs and destabilizing patient care in Butler. We’re fighting for real investment in the skilled professionals our community depends on.”
Other concerns of the union include safe staffing language in the contract and a contractual cap on increases in health care cost.
“These proposals show a real disregard for the people who keep this hospital running every day,” Tarah Grafton, a FasterCare LPN, said. “Patients deserve safe staffing and workers deserve fair wages and affordable health care. We’re not going to agree to go backward.”
