Members
of District 1199 New Mexico National Union of Health Care Employees,
AFSCME held a militant lunchtime picket line on June 3, at the main
entrance of University Hospital to show that the union is ready to
fight for better pay and working conditions for all UNMH employees.
Contract
negotiations are set to begin soon, and hospital workers are
determined to fight for a significant pay increase and better health
insurance benefits. With no increase in pay for two years, and
increased workloads, hospital workers are struggling to provide care
for patients in New Mexico’s largest public hospital.
Meanwhile,
it was recently revealed that the hospital’s net assets grew $73.8
million in the past three years. (Albuquerque Journal, June 4)
Jonathan
Brown, a negotiator for the union, said that these increases show
that the hospital can afford to provide raises. “We intend to prove
that UNMH has the capital reserves and they can afford to take care
of this place,” Brown said.
