BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Unionized hospital employees at Kaleida Health are taking a ’strike vote’ over the next three days.
Voting is in full swing inside the Wyndham Garden Hotel on High Street in Buffalo, right across from Buffalo General, one of the Kaleida hospitals.
Union members started voting as early as 6 Tuesday morning.
@KaleidaHealth workers from @CWAUnion 1168 & @SEIU 1199 are casting their ballots over the next three days on a strike authorization as the unions continue to fight for a new contract. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/BfiP8kA66Z
— Eileen Buckley (@eileenwkbw) September 13, 2022
“Here you go — here's your sticker too,” stated a CWA Local 1168 member.
Members of CWA Local 1168 and 1199 SEIU were given a sticker after casting their strike vote.
“I know some people look and go 'how can you do this’ — patients across the nation, Eileen, are dying in hospitals because of lack of care and this needs to end,” explained Cori Gambini, president CWA Local 1168.
Gambini tells me they want Kaleida Health to provide better staffing levels in their next contract.
“Oh my God, Med-Surg, one to ten, at night some times — 'I've gotten 20 patients tonight’ — you can't give care like that,” remarked Gambini.
6,300 union members work at Kaleida hospitals and facilities, including Buffalo General, Gates, Millard Gillmore Suburban, and Oishei Children's.
“I think most of us are stressed to the max. We kind of need help and we need it now,” declared Traci Mergenhade, RN at ER, Children’s.
Kaleida issued a statement saying it has exchanged proposals with the unions but they are quote "still quite far apart”. Kaleida says its current offer is $200 million over three years.
“They've calculated the union demands at $500-million or more than double that and they also used terminology like 'our financial situation is fragile,'” Larry Zielinski, former president, Buffalo General and Executive in residence for health care administration at the University at Buffalo School of Management.
Zielinski says Kaledia is indicating to the public just how “serious" the situation is, but a strike would be a “disaster."
1199 SEIU Vice President Jim Scordato tells me Kaleida has lost tens of millions of dollars from COVID, but workers need better staffing and wages.
“Would you say then a strike is a last resort?” Buckley asked. “A strike is an absolute last resort. The last thing we want to do — last thing our members want to do — we've got a lot of work to do on the bargaining table,” Scordato replied.
Curtis Paine is a physical therapist at Buffalo General and says he voted in favor of a strike.
“Well we're going through short staffing issues, so patients are not getting the care they need in the time they expected or deserve it,” Paine noted.
Hundreds of union members have already cast their ballots and voting will continue through Thursday
Both unions say they should have results by Thursday night. They plan to head back to the bargaining table with Kaleida on Friday. But union leaders stress this is only an authorization vote, and by law, would need to give Kaledia ten days' notice of a strike.
