Butler Hospital caregivers hold press conference to discuss counterproposal

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE)– Striking workers at Butler Hospital presented their counterproposal to Care New England’s contract offers in a press conference held outside the hospital at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

The workers say that their proposal narrows the distance between the union’s wage proposal and management’s to $300,000 a year, or $1.2 million over four years, and an agreement to pay a new premium on their HSA healthcare plan.

Bargaining between Care New England, which operates Butler Hospital, and SEIU 1199NE, the union representing the workers, resumed on Aug. 6 after previous bargaining sessions ended without a deal being reached.

“The movement we made was painful, but it allows us to maintain our core goals of lifting our least-paid members out of poverty and making Butler safer,” Courtney Threats, a member of the Butler Worker Bargaining Committee, said.

Threats also said that the striking workers had been frustrated by previous statements from Care New England, which has said that the union had not been operating in good faith and said that union leaders were primarily interested in increasing their own political profiles.

The workers’ new counteroffer comes less than a week after Butler announced the closure of their addiction unit, putting the blame on the union.

“We are frustrated that management continues to stonewall us despite our attempts to bargain in good faith,” Threats said. “Continuing this strike is not only bad business, it hurts our most vulnerable patients. The only conclusion we can draw is that Butler wants to bully and punish the workers for holding them accountable to fix a broken system.”

Workers at the hospital have been on strike since May 15, marking the longest hospital strike in Rhode Island history.

ABC 6 has reached out to Care New England for comment on the counterproposal.