Labor negotiations have stalled at Grays Harbor Community Hospital as workers seek a commitment from the administration for competitive wage and benefit packages that they say would further the recruitment and retention of skilled medical workers.

A fact sheet provided by one union member says union leadership has told workers that hospital negotiators proposed a 3.5 percent wage increase over the next three years and want workers to pay higher out of pocket expenses for benefits.

That’s left a bad taste in the mouths of workers who spoke to The Daily World, especially considering that two years ago they say, they helped the hospital reach financial solvency by supporting attempts to become a public hospital district while at the same time making compromises in wages and benefits.

“At that time we had agreed to terminate our rather mediocre defined benefit pension plan, take minimal wage increases and agreed to significantly increase our out of pocket expenses and more than double our medical deductible,” John Warring, Unit Representative with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21, said in a statement posted Thursday online. “Since then the hospital has received the promised money from the state, instituted a property tax assessment to folks in the district, and given top administrators a three-year average increase of almost 25 percent, with a range from 11 to 37 percent.”

Hospital CEO Tom Jensen said mediation sessions are scheduled and he’s confident the two sides will resolve their differences.

Raises to top administrators are further galling to the hospital workers, who point out that over the three-year time period hospital Jensen has seen his salary increase from $245,000 to $329,724, chief financial officer Joe Vessey go from $172,515 to $200,598 and chief operating officer Larry Kahl get a bump from $128,000 to $175,992.

The concessions, Warring said, has made it difficult to recruit for many professional and technical positions and caused chronic under staffing.

“While we love Grays Harbor, most of these positions have to be recruited from outside the area,” he said. “These jobs have a regional market and we are simply not competitive, since we have had to rely on a competitive wage and good benefit package in order to recruit.”

Warring said departments within the hospital are also having to rely on temporary workers known as “travelers” to fill positions that have been open, in some cases for years.

“Travelers are contract employees who the hospital routinely pays a rate double ours … pays them room and board and guarantees them 40 hours whether they work them or not. Also, they have significant training costs for a relatively short term contract,” Warring said. “This is money better spent on permanent employees who spend their money here instead of taking it home with them.”

Under-staffing issues are a major concern for department heads as well as staff who are often faced with critical decisions regarding treatment of patients, Warring said.

“Sometimes there is only one RP (respiratory therapist) in my department working a shift and decisions … choosing what or who is most important (have) to be made,” respiratory therapist Michaela Knight said. “I’ve had multiple patients come in needing to be intubated … needing an air way so they can live and I get a page (message) from (obstetrics) for an emergency Cesarean section and I have to leave a doctor there to deal with it. It’s not fair to make us choose … not right, especially when it shouldn’t be happening in the first place.”

Union members, Warring said, are frustrated and very surprised talks have gone on this long because there has been a, “long history of collaboration and getting along with the hospital.”

“In our 35 years of representing Grays Harbor employees, we have never had to negotiate beyond Memorial Day (the contract expired on April 30),” Warring said. “As a result, on June 21 all four bargaining units at the hospital rejected the Hospital’s proposed contract. Since then we have seen no significant progress.”

Jensen believes the two sides will be able to work through the impasse.

“Grays Harbor Community Hospital’s executives, leadership, and Board of Directors have the utmost respect for its union employees who work tirelessly to ensure that high quality, excellent care is provided to patients,” Jensen said. “Union negotiations are moving forward through mediation and we are confident that the best outcomes will be achieved for employees, the hospital, and its community.”

Hospital employees aren’t as confident, as signs are being posted around the community seeking support for their cause. A petition is also circulating to urge the hospital to resolve the issue.

“We have scheduled two mediation sessions (in August) and will consider informational picketing as our next step if the hospital does not move to give us the resources we need to provide the staffing and quality care that you deserve,” Warring said.