Union workers at Appleton's ThedaCare spoke Tuesday about stagnant wages, staffing shortages
APPLETON - ThedaCare workers demanded better wages for service and support staff in a news conference Tuesday at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton.
Members of the Service and Employees International Union Wisconsin and hospital employees said the low wages are causing harmful staffing shortages at the hospital.
Mark Heinrich serves as a cook at ThedaCare — he has for 10 years — and says he's doing the work of three people now, but hasn't seen a raise. Heinrich is in charge of making items for the salad bar, preparing food for the tray line, and now cooking in the evening, because no one else is available. Efforts to recruit another cook with a culinary degree were unsuccessful due to the low wages, he said.
While the hospitals used to offer only freshly made food to patients, they've started to serve frozen food, too, Heinrich said.
"With the additional work added to my plate, I never take my two 15 minute breaks," Heinrich said. "It's a question of getting (to) what needs to be done."
Outside the kitchen, other sectors are running low on staff too, SEIU said. The union is made up of nurses, certified nursing assistants, maintenance, food, housekeeping, and other support workers. All told, its 67 team members at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center–Appleton and 1% of all ThedaCare workers.
In 2021 and 2022, nearly 40% of the hospital's workers left, according to hospital data.
The average pay for employees in a hospital in Wisconsin who aren't nurses is about $20 an hour, according to SEIU. It went up from $13.48 in 2019.
CNA pay starts lower than other service workers at ThedaCare at $14.22 an hour. Meanwhile, the average pay for a CNA in Wisconsin was $17.67 an hour in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Heinrich said he makes $19 an hour and it hasn't changed as he took on a larger workload.
The union and health system are actively renegotiating wages for the upcoming year. The recent negotiations are focused on wages only, not a complete contract renegotiation. ThedaCare said its offer included increases that accounted for current inflation.
"ThedaCare has presented to SEIU an across-the-board wage offer and additional wage increases for market adjustments," the health system said in a statement. "SEIU has yet to present ThedaCare’s offer to our team members represented by this group. We believe these team members should have the opportunity to vote on, and benefit from, the solid wage package we have offered."
The union is asking the health system to come back to the negotiating table with a plan offering higher pay to keep up with costs of living in the Fox Valley.
"We are the essential workers that got us through the pandemic and now we continue to fight for respect, patient safety, and a wage that allows our workers to strive," said Pat Raes, the president of SEIU Wisconsin.
ThedaCare runs seven hospitals in Wisconsin. The two largest hospitals are in Appleton and Neenah, and the five others across the state are in New London, Berlin, Waupaca, Shawano and Wild Rose.
Benita Mathew is a health and science reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Contact her at bmathew@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @benita_mathew.
More: ThedaCare service, support workers plan to protest wages, staffing in Appleton
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: ThedaCare Appleton union workers say pay not keeping up with workload
