A union has reportedly been in contact with workers at Mercy Hospital Springfield, but a spokeswoman for Mercy said the effort to unionize has nothing to do with hospital President Dr. Robert Steele’s recent decision to accept a position in Arkansas.
Steele
announced last week he would step down as president on May 2 to become chief strategy officer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, Ark.
The announcement came four days after Steele and Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jay Guffey penned a letter to hospital co-workers attempting to squash any momentum that might be building for unionization.
The letter to staff, as well as a question-and-answer document on authorization cards, was published online on March 27 by the Springfield News-Leader.
Mercy spokeswoman Sonya Kullmann said the union push and Steele’s decision to leave were unrelated.
“Dr. Steele began discussions with Arkansas Children’s Hospital about this newly-created position prior to the beginning of the year. The timing of his resignation is purely a coincidence,” Kullmann said in an email.
In the letter, Steele and Guffey addressed concerns about staffing levels, implying such concerns might be the impetus behind union talks.
“We’ve previously acknowledged concerns about staffing levels. We have a full census and we realize that puts additional strains on our co-workers, but we have been, and are, working diligently to address staffing levels,” they wrote in the staff letter. “We understand that you have obligations outside of work and that fluctuations in the census can cause frustration and concerns when it comes to staffing. That’s to be expected. But you need to ask yourself whether a union is really the answer to those frustrations and concerns. We sincerely don’t think so.”
The letter went on to decry the slow decline of union participation across the U.S. in recent decades – 6.7 percent of workers in 2013 compared to 24.2 percent in 1973 and roughly one-third of U.S. workers in the 1950s – as a reason against seeking union representation.
“Right now, the low membership numbers make it clear that unions are on life support. In our opinion, unions are focused on surviving – not on co-workers’ concerns,” Steele and Guffey stated in the letter.
Steele, who declined an interview through Kullmann citing a full schedule, acknowledged via email that he has previously supported a call for a union election at Mercy. In December 1998, Steele was one of 16 pediatricians at the hospital who petitioned the National Labor Relations Board.
“It was through my experience in the late ‘90s that I saw how effective open and direct dialogue can be when resolving co-workers’ concerns. We spoke honestly with our leadership and they listened thoughtfully. That’s what I want for all of our co-workers,” Steele said via email.
Kullmann did not respond to a question about what union was pursuing representation in Springfield by deadline. Calls to Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO – a federation of 57 national and international unions – also were not returned by deadline.
In the March 28 release, Steele said friends and family in the area drew him to the Little Rock, Ark., position.
“I love Mercy, and I have really enjoyed my time here. But when an offer came to work alongside a childhood friend, in a city I consider to be ‘home’ – and where my wife has family – I just couldn’t turn it down,” Steele said in the release.
Kullman said Steele’s brother-in-law lives in the Little Rock area.
