Hospital talks stall; pensions a stumbling block – News – recordonline.com – Middletown, NY
PORT JERVIS — Contract negotiations broke down at 7:45 a.m. Thursday between representatives of 85,000 hospital workers from 1199 SEIU and management of the League of Voluntary Hospitals, which now includes Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis.
Pickets then convened in front of Bon Secours and other regional LVH hospitals, said Jim Wendt, a Bon Secours nuclear medicine technologist involved in negotiations. As he spoke, car horns honked in support and demonstrators chanted, “Who’s got the power? Union’s got the power!”
“We were close to an agreement on pensions, but management said we need to put in 1 percent more,” Wendt said. “That would be $60 million.”