Juneau’s city-owned hospital and its employee union are headed to arbitration after failing to come to an agreement over a new contract. They met with a federal mediator earlier this week.
Bartlett Regional Hospital’s employee union represents roughly 70% of all hospital staff. It has more than 550 members. The union’s previous three-year contract expired July 1.
Shutney Frisbie, the president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Healthcare Unit 2201, said the major issue that’s halting negotiations for a new contract is wages. The union wants to see pay increase by 12% over the next three years, but Bartlett is only willing to offer 8.25%.
The difference between the two equates to about $5.2 million in costs to the hospital.
“This is our next step is to kind of reach out to the public and say, ‘Hey, we need you to support your community hospital and support people living locally and working at your community hospital,’” she said. “In order to do that we need to be able to afford to live.”
This comes as the hospital faces a multimillion-dollar budget crisis that threatens to close its doors. Right now, its board is seeking financial help for a handful of services it says are draining money. But, if it can’t find that money, or another entity to take over the services, they will be cut come the end of October.
The hospital board’s president, Kenny Solomon-Gross, said he believes the wages the hospital is offering to union members are fair. He said with the tight spot the hospital is already in, increasing wages above what is being offered could mean more cuts in services or positions.
“Those are the two things that always get hit — services or employees — so that’s a very possible possibility,” he said.
But Frisbie said the union has already lowered its demands since negotiations began months ago and acknowledges the financial position the hospital is in. But, she said the demands are what they believe is the amount needed to make sure employees can afford to live in Juneau.
“There are competitive wages and a lower cost of living all over the United States. And, no real reason to stay in Juneau,” she said. “If you can’t afford to live here, and you can afford and you can make a better wage, up north or down south and afford housing.”
She said the increase will also ensure Bartlett can retain permanent staff. Last fiscal year, it spent more than $9 million on contract labor for the hospital and Wildflower Court.
Chad Brown is the executive director of human resources at the hospital.
“We want to get to an agreement, we want to get to something we can to get the hospital to take care of financially, that won’t put us further in a hole that we can’t dig out of,” he said.
Brown said despite the current situation, he’s confident that there will be no impact on the quality of care people receive when they come to the hospital during this time. According to city bylaws, union members can’t go on strike.
“I have the absolute utmost confidence in every member of our team, whether they’re union or not to continue to provide the highest quality of patient care that we have been known for,” he said.
Once the arbitrator makes a recommendation, which is likely months away, it will be sent to the Juneau Assembly for the final decision. There, members will weigh each group’s arguments alongside the recommendation. Then, they’ll make a decision.