Common Ground: Improving the Quality of Hospital Jobs
By Leslie Frane, Executive Vice President, Service Employees International Union
Margie is nearing 60 and in another age, she would have been nearing retirement. Instead, she’s working in housekeeping for a local hospital, cleaning patient rooms and medical equipment with minimal training on safety or infectious disease control. That’s just one reason Margie and her fellow hospital workers are fighting to form a union. The second reason is she believes she should earn a livable wage for her work. In Milwaukee, $12.60 an hour isn’t enough to cover the rent, utilities, gas and groceries and there are times when Margie has to ask her adult children for money to put food in her refrigerator. A $15 an hour wage would mean fewer weeks where Margie is just barely getting by.
This Labor Day, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on ways in which the goals of healthcare workers and hospitals align. For example, there can be no doubt in this economy that the quality of hospital jobs like Margie’s are critical to the health of patients and our communities and that in many communities, hospitals are the primary job creators of our age. With a rapidly aging population demanding more care in a variety of settings, frontline healthcare jobs — nurses, aides, dietary workers, techs, therapists– are in demand in both large cities and small towns.
An important driver of the quality of these jobs is the ability of hospital workers to join together in a union to negotiate better wages and benefits. In cities where the majority of hospital workers have formed a union, like New York, San Francisco, and Seattle, workers make middle-class wages, have superior health insurance and the opportunity to retire with dignity. In cities where hospitals have resisted employees’ efforts to organize, hospital jobs are far less likely to pay a living wage and more likely to force working women and men to rely on publicly-funded benefits like Medicaid or food stamps. These working conditions lead to high turnover, high recruitment costs and lost opportunities to retain and develop employees who can grow their skills to meet the mission of their healthcare system.
In addition, while Wall Street gains spike and climb, economic inequality is dramatically worsening in this country. We all have a role to play in finding solutions that will improve the quality of life for working people and improve the health of our communities. A Pew survey of voters from early this year demonstrates that in the eyes of the public, unions are part of the solution: 60% of Americans held a favorable view of labor unions — the highest rate in nearly a decade. 75% of young people ages 18–29 had a favorable view of labor unions. Perhaps that’s because union members continue to be a visible, vibrant force for change — whether through the Fight for $15 and a union movement that has fired the hopes of fast food, home care and nursing home workers across the country — or through our advocacy on healthcare, environmental issues and racial justice in our communities.
This Labor Day hospital workers around the country who share Margie’s goals are calling for the economic changes their hospitals and communities need. In cities like Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Rochester, Minnesota, non-union hospital workers will be standing up and speaking out for their rights to form a union.
Margie will be joined by ordinary Americans, faith and community leaders and elected officials in calling for the kind of good jobs that far too many Americans only dream about. I hope that the leaders of our nation’s hospitals and health systems will support the rights of working people to freely join together in unions, to improve their jobs and their ability to deliver the best possible care.
