Nursing assistants, paramedics and other healthcare workers employed by Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London urged hospital leadership Monday to bump up hourly pay and drop mandatory on-call work requirements.
Many members are working additional jobs to supplement their income – like picking up hours at a furniture store and a local school, said Connie Fields, chief steward at Local 5123, a union representing the hospital's nearly 900 healthcare workers, including patient care assistants or PCAs.
“We have people who work at Foxwoods and work for the hospital, work for Mohegan and work for the hospital,” Fields said. “We have PCAs that work in nursing homes plus work here at the hospital.”
Patient care assistants are paid $17 an hour by hospital owner Yale New Haven Health, up a few cents after the union previously protested, Fields said. This position pays up to around $23 an hour in Connecticut, according to the job site Indeed.
Meanwhile, members in the respiratory unit were concerned about the hospital mandating them to work on-call due to a severe staffing shortage, said Cathy Van Verdeghem, president of AFT Local 5051, which represents more than 200 technicians and paramedics.
“They're worked to the bone. They don't want to be on call,” Van Verdeghem said. “As it is, they're rotating them to evenings and nightshift because they don't have people to work those shifts. Every person I asked, they said they would leave.”
When somebody calls out sick, “it's like chaos,” Van Verdeghem said.
“If you just hired a few more people, you wouldn't have to do that,” she said. “It's work-life balance. When I'm off, I know I'm off.”
Lawrence + Memorial said in a statement that it deeply values its workforce, and the leadership team will continue to negotiate with the unions in good faith.
“We are confident that we will reach an agreement that is fair, responsible and competitive within the broader healthcare marketplace,” the statement said.
