UR, Strong workers to picket for fair wages and benefits

Unable to reach an agreement which protects the wages and benefits of workers, talks between the University of Rochester and SEIU adjourned Friday. As a result, workers will be picketing outside Strong Hospital at 12 noon on Friday, October 21. Worker's will be demonstrating for fair wages and the protection of their family's health care.

(Rochester) - Negotiations between the University of Rochester and two of its service employees' unions broke off Friday night.  Workers will picket this Friday, October 21, to assert their right to a fair wage and family health care.

"Management's offer of 2% a year and a lower payscale for future employees, together with it's attempt to cut back health benefits, doesn't give us anything to work with," said Bruce Popper, chief negotiator for both unions.

The talks cover 1,200 employees at the University of Rochester and its Strong Memorial Hospital division including patient care technicians, nursing secretaries, surgical assistants, building service and food service workers. They are all essential to the functioning of the crucial services provided by the university and the medical center. They are all at risk of losing family healthcare and the wages that keep them just above the federal poverty line.

"I can't afford to go backward." said Shirley Hobbs, a nursing unit secretary for the past 26 years at Strong Memorial Hospital.  "We're only a few paychecks above the poverty line now."

The average salary for full-time work at the U of R is less than 24,000 dollars, about 25% above the federal poverty rate for a family of four. University management is seeking cuts to these wages for future employees and threatened proposals that would mean drastic cuts to current employees’ health benefits.

The workers, laboring without a contract since October 1, notified Strong Hospital that they would picket starting at 12 noon on Friday, October 21, if no agreement was reached by that date. Since no further negotiations are scheduled, picketing is now a certainty.

Informational picketing will occur on Elmwood Avenue in front of Strong Hospital from 12 noon to 4 PM. At 4 PM workers will march to the UR campus, where they will hold a rally in front of Wallis Hall on Wilson Boulevard.

For further information, please call 244-0830 x323, or email bpopper@1199.org