Crowds of chanting Kaleida Health workers gathered outside Buffalo General Hospital and Oishei Children’s Hospital on Thursday to picket what their unions say are unacceptable working conditions.
1199 SEIU United Health Workers East and Communications Workers of America Local 1168 organized the gathering amid contract negotiations to voice employee concerns with “severe understaffing.”
Jennifer Hogue, the area vice president for the Buffalo General Technical Clinical and Clerical Group and a certified medical assistant at Gates Vascular Institute, shared that she worries about patients in the most understaffed units.
“In some of my units, my co-workers would have 30 patients apiece. How can one person care for 30 patients? The answer is they can't,” Hogue said. “They can't physically wash patients, feed patients, help patients with personal care and change the bedding with that many patients. Mentally. we can’t say that we can't fathom your loved ones or our loved ones getting this kind of care”
The two unions recently released a survey of 900 Kaleida workers that showed 70% have considered quitting their jobs and 97% believe the health system is struggling to retain workers.
The unions emphasized the need for stronger contracts to attract more workers.
Several other unions came in solidarity with health workers, including Starbucks Workers United. Member Brian Murray proclaimed the strength of Buffalo’s unions.
“This is a union town so all this support is going to continue,” he said. “Kaleida should understand. They should have seen what happened at Mercy Hospital and how we for a month went on strike and showed up as a community and said, ‘This is not acceptable.’”
