Medical Center employees gathered at the Corner yesterday to protest a proposed staff realignment plan, which would reassign 170 hospital workers.
The protesters, some of whom covered their mouths with bandanas and duct tape to protest their exclusion from the decision-making, urged passers-by to sign a petition that will be sent to R. Edward Howell, vice president and chief executive officer of the Medical Center, and Leonard W. Sandridge, University executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Jan Cornell, president of the Staff Union at the University, which organized the protest, said the Union hopes the petition will encourage Howell and Sandridge to meet with employees.
"We would like to find out why there wasn't employee input into this decision," Cornell said.
Cornell said the Union had hoped to collect 1,000 signatures before requesting a meeting. Yesterday afternoon, the Union collected 146, bringing their total to 600.
Cornell said she felt the Union would proceed and request the meeting with Howell and Sandridge.
Under the proposed plan, the 170 employees slated for reassignment will have the opportunity to interview for new positions based on their qualifications. If they are not offered a position for which they have interviewed, they still are eligible for Medical Center employment. However, if an employee refuses an offered reassignment, the Medical Center will consider their refusal an automatic resignation.
Cornell said she fears the Medical Center will not make an adequate attempt to match employees with jobs that equal their current pay and experience levels.
She added that by treating refusals of these potentially unacceptable positions as resignations, the Medical Center is trying to deny affected employees severance and unemployment packages.
In addition, Cornell said she was worried that the quality of patient care could suffer if employees are not treated fairly.
"I do not see how this could not affect patient care," she said.
Lisa Wooltork, who stopped to sign the petition, echoed Cornell's concerns over the treatment of Medical Center employees and how that will affect patient care.
"I think it's important for the quality of care that workers be treated with respect and dignity," she said.
Cornell added that employees hope to use such a meeting to express concern with the plan and address such issues as whether the plan will put an unfair burden on workers who remain in their current positions.
Hospital spokeswoman Marguerite Beck said the Medical Center has tried to keep employees informed.
"We've made a lot of efforts to talk to employees," she said.
Beck cited five town meetings held by the Medical Center and letters sent to employees as examples of the Medical Center's efforts to communicate with employees.
"We're trying to avoid layoffs," Beck said. "That's the bottom line. In my book that's a good thing," she said.
Nick Carter, chief operating officer at the Medical Center, acknowledged that employees who do not accept their reassignments will not receive severance packages.
"If they don't take a job that they are qualified for, we are not planning on paying a severance," he said.
He maintained that the Medical Center would attempt to match workers with jobs that are commensurate with their skill levels.
"As people go on the list to be reassigned there is extensive work by human resources to match their skill levels with job openings," he said. Carter contended that patient care would not be adversely affected by the changes.
"Even as we make these changes, we will have more employees than we did two years ago and our admission level will not be as high as it was two years ago," he said.
"Quality patient care is our number one priority," he added.
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