Mercy being "targeted' by SEIU

Toledo Business Journal, Jan 01, 2006

"Yet at the same time, many nurses and other hospital employees say they don't always have the staff and support they need, and the quality of patient care is not always a top priority," Courtney stated.

Asked if SEIU is interested in organizing employees at area Mercy facilities, Courtney stated: "Our goal is not to organize employees' that's a decision for hospital employees themselves to make. Our goal is to get hospitals to agree to a set of fair ground rules so that hospital employees have a free choice."

In conclusion. Courtney stated: "Unfortunately. CHP is deliberately mischaracterizing zing what we're asking for and accusing us of trying to deny employees their right to a secret ballot election. This is false, and they know it. What we're asking for is fair and reasonable, and not too much to expect from tax-exempt charitable institutions that are supposed to put the community's interests ahead of the pursuit of profits."

In response to Crossing the Line, CHP has released its. own publication, Drawing the Line, to refute SEIU's claims. It responds to a number of points made by Crossing the Line, including the organization's "return on investment," noting that CHP invested $47.2 million more in its Ohio, communities than it would have paid in taxes in 2003.

"The $45 million in charity care and community benefit that Mercy does in this community is often misrepresented in some of the SEIU materials," stated Manahan. "We follow the guidelines set forth by the Catholic Health Association and the IRS in how we report community benefit.. For every dollar that we would pay in taxes, we contribute $1.59 back to the community."

Toledo Business Journal asked Mercy officials to discuss the issue of labor relations and employee satisfaction. MHP has employed a third party to measure, employee satisfaction. "Our employee satisfaction is at the 185th percentile of all healthcare in the United States," stated George. "To be in the top 25 percentile, turnover is about 11.6 percent. Our turnover in 2004 ran at 9.9 percent and in 2005 is at 9 percent. Turnover is an indication of employee satisfaction; when employees are satisfied with an organization they generally don't leave."

New Measures 2004 Healthcare Database, which represents 202 hospitals and healthcare systems in the U.S. indicates that St. Charles Hospital is in the 95th percentile for all employees including nurses and the 96th percentile for nurses. The database places St. Anne Hospital in the 92nd percentile for all employees and the 92nd percentile for nurses. The overall ranking for MHP was the 85th percentile for employee satisfaction.

Mercy Health Partners has had seven elections on unionization in the past few years. "In four cases, the employees rejected representation," stated George. "In three cases - all at St. Vincent - they elected representation by, the UAW. Those would be our registered nurses, our technical employees, and our support service employees."

"We feel that we're pro-employee," stated Connors. "Our employees have the right to choose to be represented by a union, and we respect that right. If our employees through an election process overseen by the National Labor Relations Board - elect representation by a union, we will respect and honor that. We've done that already relative to the UAW at St. Vincent. But what a corporate campaign is looking to do is to put pressure on management and the organization with the intent of significantly harming our reputation so that we step back... Their goal is neutrality or card check, which basically allows them to come in without our employees having the opportunity to understand all of the information surrounding what selection of a union will do for them or not do for them, and it allows the union to be recognized without a fair election process free from pressure from both management as well as union representatives... Representation by a union is the employees' decision. It's not our decision. We're not going to hand over our employees without them saying they want to be represented, to the SEIU or anyone else."'