STERLING, Ill. — More than two years after health care workers at CGH Medical Center unionized, there's still no first contract agreement.
On April 28, 2021, around 800 hospital and clinic staffers officially formed the CGH Employees Union under the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. According to the hospital, CGH has about 1,500 employees.
"51 times (we've been to the table," said Carla Gillespie, AFSCME Council 31 regional director. "We negotiate new contracts all over the state, we represent all kinds of people in public service, and this is a first for me and for several seasoned negotiators."
She and some union members blame hospital management for purposely stalling contract negotiations.
CGH said that's not the case. A spokesperson provided the following statement to News 8 from CEO Paul Steinke.
"CGH continues to bargain with the union in good faith. The facts are that over the last 7 months, we have sat down with AFSCME at the bargaining table a total of 6 times: AFSCME had no availability in May, we met on June 26th; July 19th was requested by CGH, AFSCME cancelled in August and offered no dates in September; we met twice in October and November. AFSCME agreed to get future meeting dates to us at the last meeting and we are awaiting those dates. So any claims that CGH is slowing down the process are incorrect."
On Tuesday, Nov. 28, about three dozen members and their supporters protested at CGH, presenting a petition to the board urging it to take action. The union said some 750 people had signed the petition.
"It calls to you and I quote, put patients first and settle a fair union contract with a fair pay for the healthcare heroes who provide patient care and make CGH happen," said Shelly Houzenga, a representative of the union bargaining committee. "As members of the CGH board, you have the power to make this happen. And as CGH employees, we will not give up until we have the contract we deserve."
The union claims CGH has spent $1 million in attorney fees fighting the establishment of the union and defending themselves against unfair labor charges.
In March 2022, a judge with the Illinois Labor Relations Board said CGH and Steinke violated state labor law by deterring employees from unionizing.
"It's frustrating, especially because it'd be one thing if we felt like we were making significant process," said Brittany Zemke, another representative of the union bargaining committee. "We don't have a ton to show for all of the time that we've been spending in these meetings."
"There have been a few things resolved at the table, very few things," Gillespie said.
CGH tells News 8 the union has accepted proposals for cost of living wage increases, health insurance premiums for next year at no increase and discipline policy. The hospital said all of those are the same as non-union staff.
CGH sent News 8 a Nov. 21 collective bargaining update that was previously sent to supervisors to share with their workers. It said bargaining sessions now focus on original topics that date back to the beginning of negotiations.
They include policies surrounding seniority, filling of vacancies, layoff and recall, introductory periods, performance evaluations, vacation and leave, hours of work, on-call and call-in and staffing bonuses.
Zemke said they're asking for fairness and consistency across departments.
"For instance, filling of vacancies, we're just looking for a uniform process that's handled the same way across all the different departments, or as best as we can," she said. "For instance, if a position is posted, how long is it posted for before it's opened up to the public versus internal employees? Seniority, just basic, if you were to change departments, if you were to leave and come back within x amount of months, would you retain your seniority? Or would you lose it?"
CGH said it's awaiting meeting dates from the union. Gillespie said they hope to meet before the end of the year.