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KDMC workers picket for better benefits, contract
ASHLAND — Dozens of union employees at King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland picketed outside the hospital Monday afternoon calling for better health insurance benefits and a better contract.
District 1199 of the Service Employees International Union represents 563 workers at the medical center. The union employees have been working without a contract since Dec. 1. The workers earlier turned down a contract proposal by a total of 428-8. No contract negotiations currently are set.
Jamie Branham, a food service employee at King’s Daughters for five years, said he voted against the proposed contract because it calls for him to pay higher costs for benefits like health insurance, as well as dental and eye care benefits.
“I’d see less money in my paycheck,” Branham said as he held up a picket sign in the 2200 block of Lexington Avenue. He’s already paying $108 a month for insurance and said those costs would double or triple under the contract rejected by union members.
“They make millions, and they don’t want to pass it on to the people that make this place go day in and day out,” Branham said.
Joyce Gibson, a union organizer, said King’s Daughters is a not-for-profit hospital that made $36 million in profits last year.
“We prefer to keep our negotiations at the bargaining table,” Tom Dearing, a King’s Daughters spokesman, said Monday afternoon.
Mandy Boyd, an emergency room employee and a union member, said she didn’t like the contract offered by the medical center since it could make smokers pay $180 a month more in health insurance benefits and 15 percent more for every year thereafter. King’s Daughters was only offering a 2.5 percent increase, meaning that workers would be paid less.
“There are several people working here who are getting food stamps,” Boyd said.
Clint Salmons of Cannonsburg, a King’s Daughters employee for the past 11 years, said King’s Daughters wants to get rid of the union. “An open shop (proposal) is on the table,” he said. “They’re making $30 million. They need to give us a piece of the pie. It’s not like we’re asking for the farm.”
“We want a fair contract and benefits,” Salmons said. “This is a world class facility. There’s no reason they can’t give us free health insurance. This place has grown, and we’ve helped it grow. They’re well off and think they can rule the world.”
The union has to give a 10-day strike notice before any work stoppage. No strike vote has been called, Gibson said.
