Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510170054
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A United Mine Workers official said the move is intended to pressure the company to improve wages, benefits and working conditions at the 180-bed Heritage Hall nursing home, one of 17 nursing facilities that HCMF owns and operates in Virginia.
The company said it is negotiating on the union's requests and considers the protest a union ploy to placate members who are dissatisfied with union services.
James Gibbs, international representative of the UMW, said the company has refused to bargain seriously to replace a contract that expired Jan. 10 for members of Local 9127. He said he will rent a van and deliver 15 to 20 nursing assistants and other employees to the shoulder of Colonnade Drive in front of HCMF offices by 8 a.m.
Bill Van Thiel, chief operating officer of HCMF, said the company is unwilling to have its doorstep become a platform for the union but is powerless to stop it.
"The issue is down in Big Stone Gap," Van Thiel said. "I don't know why they would picket an office building" that is only partially occupied by HCMF employees.
Gibbs said the union dropped plans for a similar protest last month at the company's request.
"We will definitely be there this time. There's no calling it off," Gibbs said. "We feel like it's something we have to do. We have tried to work with these people."
Heritage Hall nursing assistants want a company pledge to improve staffing levels and reduce their workloads, which they say are excessive because of high turnover and vacancies, Gibbs said.
Van Thiel said union infighting and other activities have hampered hiring efforts by adding tensions that some job applicants want no part of. But staffing is adequate, he said.
Paul Childress, a housekeeper and the union local's president, charged that Heritage Hall is short-staffed and can't hire enough employees because of its low wages. The company offered workers a 1.5 percent raise, he said, but with workers making an average of $5 hourly, "what's that? Eight cents? Nine cents?'' He estimated that 75 percent of employees receive food stamps.
Employees want a raise of 45 or 50 cents an hour, Gibbs said.
Van Thiel of HCMF said the company and union are bargaining. "It's not that we are opposed to raises; it's just the amount we haven't agreed on."
He said the company has offered pay raises of 1.5 percent to 3 percent, as a trade-off for efforts to reduce injury claims.
But the union refused to agree to efforts that might lower workers compensation claims, which are running higher at Heritage Hall than at any HCMF facility, Van Thiel said. The company was rebuffed, he added, when it tried to make raises contingent on a reduction in claims.
Employees also want more-affordable health care insurance, because many cannot afford to buy coverage that is available through Heritage Hall, Gibbs said. Since the workers provide health care, they should be able to afford to be covered by a plan, Gibbs said.
Van Thiel said the company is discussing what it contributes to defray the cost of coverage.
The two sides are also at odds before the National Labor Relations Board. Local 9127, organizer of the picket, was the target of a filing by some members to force a decertification vote at an undetermined date. Union-brought allegations against the company have delayed voting.
by CNB