Nurses poised to strike at Hartford HealthCare’s Windham Hospital
The union that represents 100 nurses at Windham Hospital has filed notice that it intends to strike next week if it does not reach a contract agreement with the hospital’s parent company, Hartford HealthCare.
The nurses have been working without a contract since December. The 48-hour strike would begin Sept. 22 at 7 a.m.
Andrea Riley, president of Windham Federation of Professional Nurses, said the union already has filed unfair labor practice charges against Hartford HealthCare, the parent of Hartford Hospital, Windham Hospital and five others in the state. Those practices, Riley said, was attempting to negotiate individually with union members,
The issues separating the two sides, according to Riley, are wage increases, the soaring cost of health insurance and revisions to mandatory overtime.
Riley said she can’t remember a strike in the 21 years she has worked at Windham Hospital.
“Our community should expect better from Hartford HealthCare’s executives and lawyers,” Karla Beckert, a nurse in Windham Hospital’s Greer Unit, said. “Provoking nurses to strike shows us their lack of respect both for their patients and their employees. We’re hopeful a settlement can be reached but we’re prepared to walk off the job if that’s what it takes.”
Donna Handley, president of Windham Hospital said in a statement Monday the hospital has been in active contract negotiations since December with two bargaining units, the nurses in addition to technical and support staff.
“We have made continuous efforts and concessions to find common ground, and we sought the engagement of a federal mediator early in negotiations to help facilitate an agreement,” Handley said.
Some of the offers to the union, Handley said, include elimination of mandatory overtime; larger wage increases for newly-hired nurses to help recruit and retain nurses; expanded salary ranges for senior nurses and health insurance premium contributions that amounts to an additional 2% of wages.
Handley said the hospital offered dates to resume negotiations on Aug. 29 but has not heard back from the nurses’ union.
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
