Butler Hospital workers stage sit-in outside of Care New England HQ

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — As the stalemate between union workers and Butler Hospital management nears the one month mark, employees on strike step up their efforts to get Care New England’s and the public’s attention.

Strikers have set up a 30-hour sit-in at Richmond Square outside of the Care New England headquarters, where hundreds of Butler workers have been picketing since 11 a.m. Thursday.

“We’ve been having a hard time getting people to negotiate,” Butler Hospital employee Kevin Kelly said. “We’ve been having a hard time getting people to sit at the table, so we thought we would bring the movement here, out front, so they can realize we are real people.”

Since the strike started, Butler Hospital pulled striking workers’ health insurance and posted job listings, looking to permanently replace hospital workers on strike.

“We don’t want anything over the top, we just want a fair contract with living wages and good health insurance,” Kelly said.

“We have proposed a workplace violence commission that we wanted to work jointly with the hospital on, because there has been an alarming increase in injuries; patient to staff injuries,” employee Courtney Threats said.

One Butler employee, the head chef at the hospital, who’s worked at the hospital for nearly 30 years, shared his perspective.

“The people I work with in my department and out of my department, I have known them my whole life, my whole life is in those walls and I don’t want to leave those walls. I just want to be treated fairly just like everyone else here and that’s what they’re fighting for,” Virgil Soares said..

Butler’s President and COO Mary Marran shared a statement on the sit-in:

Butler Hospital remains fully committed to reaching a fair and fiscally responsible agreement with SEIU 1199 NE, one that recognizes the vital contributions of our staff and ensures we can continue delivering the safe, high-quality care our patients and community rely on.

We have a bargaining session scheduled for Tuesday, June 17, and hope SEIU 1199 NE will commit to engaging in a constructive, solutions-focused dialogue at that time.

While we respect the right to peaceful demonstration, it is disheartening that after 29 days on strike, the union appears more focused on public theatrics than on returning to the bargaining table to achieve real progress.

We urge SEIU 1199 NE to prioritize the negotiation process so that together we can reach a sustainable agreement that honors our workforce and protects the long-term sustainability of Butler Hospital and the patients we are privileged to serve.

The striking workers plan to stay outside of the Care New England headquarters until 4 p.m. on June 13.

There is a bargaining session scheduled for June 17.