Landmark union authorizes strike if RegionalCare wins bid

WOONSOCKET – Union employees at Landmark Medical Center and its affiliate, the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island, voted Wednesday to authorize a strike if RegionalCare Hospital Partners is chosen to purchase the financially troubled hospital.

“RegionalCare’s contract proposal would be devastating to employees and their families; it would drive skilled, educated and experienced nurses away, and compromise the quality of care,” said union President Jan Peso, a registered nurse who has worked at Landmark for 26 years.

The union, Local 5067 of the Northern Rhode Island Nurses and Allied Professionals, represents about 600 workers at the two facilities.

The three for-profit bidders were given from April 21 until May 6 to revise their bid offers by R.I. Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein.

The judge specifically asked RegionalCare to reach an agreement with the union at the hearing last month.

In the past 10 days, the union has met with attorneys representing RegionalCare on three occasions to negotiate but no substantive concessions were made, said Christopher Callaci, the union’s general counsel.

A stalemate remains around medical insurance, he said.

“RegionalCare wanted significant changes to the medical and dental insurance policies of the workers that would cost them thousands and thousands of dollars out of pocket,” Callaci said.

“They’re off the farm in terms of what they’re seeking,” he said.

The other two bidders, Prime HealthCare Services of Ontario, Calif., and Transition Healthcare of Franklin, Tenn., have reached negotiated agreements with the union, consenting to keep the employees’ medical and dental insurance intact while the union has "offered concessions on the workforce," details of which have not been made public.

Silverstein is slated to make a final decision on the bidders on May 10.