Rep. Brown, Sen. Brown, Rep. Sykes, Mayor Bibb, County Exec. Ronayne Urge Parties at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital to Stay at the Bargaining Table, Reach an Equitable Agreement in Contract Negotiations

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Shontel Brown (D-OH-11), U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Representative Emilia Sykes (D-OH-13), Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb wrote to leadership at Cleveland Clinic’s Lutheran Hospital, urging them to work to reach an equitable agreement with the workers at the Lutheran Hospital as soon as possible. Workers at the hospital are represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199.

“Like you, these workers care deeply about the health of their community and are committed to ensuring patients get the best possible care. We urge you to find a way toward reaching a fair and equitable agreement in a timely manner, and we will continue to encourage SEIU leadership to do the same. We appreciate your time and attention to this matter, as well as the Clinic’s leadership and partnership on many issues, and look forward to continued work with you and your team to serve the health care needs of Ohioans,” wrote the officials.

 The full letter can be found HERE or below.

Dr. Barnett:

We write to express our concern over the lack of progress in ongoing contract negotiations between the Cleveland Clinic and workers at Lutheran Hospital represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199. While we appreciate that these negotiations take time, we are concerned that failure to come to an agreement that best serves workers and patients in a timely manner could threaten access to quality care in the community. Therefore, we encourage you to stay at the bargaining table and work to reach an agreement with your workers that honors the dignity of their work and ensures patients and their families can continue to count on Lutheran to provide them the care they need as soon as possible.

We appreciate the role that Lutheran Hospital plays as an anchor institution in the community, helping to maintain access to quality care and serving as an essential part of the health care safety net for those in downtown Cleveland and its surrounding neighborhoods. Your employees are essential to your ability to fulfill your mission. They are compassionate and skilled professionals who work long hours doing all-too-often thankless but critical work. Finding agreement with your workers in a timely manner is in the best interests of your employees, the hospital, and the greater community.

While we understand that both parties are working with the assistance of a federal mediator and are committed to working in good faith to achieve a mutually agreeable contract, as you have in years past, we are concerned at the lack of process thus far as well as reports of intimidation and unfair treatment throughout the negotiation process. It has been brought to our attention that the group of Clinic employees represented by SEIU Local 1199 have been denied benefits provided to all other staff at Lutheran Hospital, and that there have been allegations of coercion during the ongoing contract negotiations. Unfortunately, we have been unable to share our concerns over these allegations with you directly or get an update on the current situation from Lutheran Hospital’s perspective, as you have declined to meet with us to discuss our concerns. If any of the allegations of coercion of employees by management are true, we urge you to immediately put a stop to these and any other actions that run counter to the dignity of work and instead negotiate in good faith and work toward an agreement that ensures Lutheran Hospital can continue to provide high quality care for years to come.

Having met with the different sides during many negotiations between employers and workers, we recognize that – despite shared goals – this process can often be frustrating for both parties involved. We also understand that there has never been a work stoppage or strike at Lutheran Hospital under Cleveland Clinic leadership. We hope that trend continues, which is why we urge your leadership, as well as that of SEIU Local 1199, to remain at the bargaining table and work in good faith to come to an agreement that best serves workers, patients, and the community as quickly as possible. 

Like you, these workers care deeply about the health of their community and are committed to ensuring patients get the best possible care. We urge you to find a way toward reaching a fair and equitable agreement in a timely manner, and we will continue to encourage SEIU leadership to do the same. We appreciate your time and attention to this matter, as well as the Clinic’s leadership and partnership on many issues, and look forward to continued work with you and your team to serve the health care needs of Ohioans. 

Sincerely,

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