CWA

When CWA 1168 struck Mercy Hospital for six weeks last fall, the issues were staffing, hiring, wages and benefits. The same issues are in these new talks that started Wednesday.

The state budget proposal unveiled Tuesday morning by Gov. Kathy Hochul includes a multi-year investment aimed at rebuilding and retaining the healthcare workforce. How the state plans to carry out one of the provisions is raising early concern.

After three days of voting, more than 2,500 Communications Workers of America employees at Mercy, Kenmore Mercy and Sisters St. Joseph hospitals have approved six new four-year union contracts.

There's a tentative deal between the Catholic Health and the Communications Workers of America to end the five-week-long strike at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo. The deal will also cover various units at other Catholic Health hospitals.

"If they come to one-to-four, this ends. It's that simple," said Communications Workers of America Area Director Debora Hayes.

Things have heated up even further, as the strike at Buffalo's Mercy Hospital lingers into its second month. Catholic Health is cutting off health insurance for the strikers, in a move the union said is an attempt to intimidate workers into a bad contract.

Outside Mercy Hospital, strikers march in circles, dampened by the continuing rain. Inside, Catholic Health CEO Mark Sullivan defends management's position.

A strike at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo continues for a sixth day, after the hospital and union completed 11 hours of bargaining Tuesday.

The two sides in the Mercy Hospital strike wound up slogging through the complexities of running a hospital in the same bargaining room Tuesday, after they couldn't agree on real or virtual the day before.

Catholic Health and the Communication Workers of America will come back to the bargaining table Tuesday, as a strike at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo enters its fifth day.