News
NLRB issues complaint against nationwide chain of hospitals
The National Labor Relations Board’s Office of the General Counsel has issued a consolidated complaint against Community Health Systems Inc. (CHS), the parent company of a nationwide chain of hospitals that includes Greenbrier Valley Medical Center and Bluefield Regional Medical Center.
Issued on Monday, the consolidated complaint alleges that CHS and seven wholly-owned subsidiary hospitals comprise a single integrated employer that has violated the National Labor Relations Act by engaging in a series of unfair labor practices.
Specifically, it is alleged that CHS has violated employee rights by, among other things, maintaining rules that infringe on employees’ rights to discuss wages, hours and working conditions with one another and to advocate for better treatment; making statements and taking actions against employees for participating in union activities; and failing to engage in good-faith collective bargaining with the unions that employees have selected as their exclusive collective-bargaining representatives.
According to the NLRB’s Office of Public Affairs, the consolidated complaint requests specific remedial relief, including “reimbursement for negotiation expenses; a make-whole remedy, including reinstatement, for employees who were the subject of discretionary discharges prior to any bargaining with the employees’ exclusive collective bargaining representatives; the reading and electronic transmission of a ‘Notice to Employees’; and a broad, corporate-wide cease and desist order given prior findings of serious unfair labor practices involving many of the facilities in the current matter.”
Unless a settlement is reached in the interim, the NLRB is scheduled to begin litigation on the 29 charges included in the consolidated complaint in Cleveland on Dec. 15.
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In a press release welcoming the NLRB’s action, National Nurses United said, “Nurses’ widespread concerns about patient safety were the driving force that galvanized RNs from the chain’s hospitals in Ohio, West Virginia and California to organize and win representation through NNU-affiliated unions, California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee. CHS has engaged in rampant and serious unfair labor practices at all of these locations, including terminating RN leaders in a wide-scale attempt to weaken support for the union and forestall reaching initial collective bargaining agreements.”
NNU’s press release quoted several nurses employed at CHS hospitals, including Registered Nurse Debra McKinney, who works at Affinity Medical Center in Massillon, Ohio.
“As nurses, we are very pleased to have the opportunity to expose CHS for what they are, a large corporation that tries to hide behind the small-town hospitals they run,” McKinney told NNU. “The company culture is to treat patients like numbers, not human beings. We are committed to getting our patients the care they deserve from CHS.”
Acting upon a request for comment from The Register-Herald, CHS issued the following statement through Greenbrier Valley Medical Center:
“Providing our patients with safe, quality care is our highest priority. We staff our hospital based on the number of patients in our care and their medical needs. The quality of our care is demonstrated through our accreditation by the American Osteopathic Association, and we meet national benchmarks for complications, readmissions and mortality as reported on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s Hospital Compare. We value our nurses and all of our caregivers for their skills and commitment that support our ability to meet the medical needs of our patients and community.”