With just 48 hours to spare, healthcare workers at Hospice East Bay called off a three-day strike after finally securing their most immediate demand — forcing their employer back to the bargaining table for the first time in nearly four months.
The hospice workers, who are still seeking their first contract after forming a union with NUHW two years ago, had demonstrated their unity and power in July with a one-day strike that drew television, print, and radio reporters as well as elected officials to the hospice’s suburban office in Pleasant Hill.
The first strike informed local community members that the highly-rated community-based hospice service was being taken over by Chapters Health Care, a Florida-based hospice chain that touted its success in cutting costs.
NUHW members are seeking a contract that will safeguard existing patient care staffing requirements as well as employee health benefits, which the hospice has been demanding the right to unilaterally cut during any contract.
However, as Chapters took over in October, the hospice continued refusing to bargain. It rejected more than 20 proposed bargaining dates in what appeared to workers as a thinly-veiled attempt to grind them into submission. At one point, the hospice agreed to meet with them as long as a mediator was present, but then canceled bargaining dates when the government shutdown suspended federal mediation services.
“They were trying to break our spirit, but they only strengthened our resolve,” said Claire Eustace, a spiritual care counselor at the hospice and member of the NUHW bargaining team.
The nearly 80 NUHW members at the hospice overwhelmingly authorized a three-day strike that was set to begin on Wednesday, November 18. The workers were clear that they’d cancel the strike if management would return to the bargaining table, and that’s what happened with the hospice agreeing to four bargaining dates, starting with one last Friday.
“We’re still a long way from an agreement, but now management negotiators aren’t deluding themselves that we’ll ever give up,” Eustace said. “We’re going to keep putting pressure on management until we win the safeguards we need to keep serving our patients with the compassion they deserve.”
