Maintenance, service union workers at Cabell Huntington Hospital approve strike notice

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — About 1,000 maintenance and service union workers at Cabell Huntington Hospital are gearing up for a strike.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) voted Wednesday night overwhelming in favor of giving the hospital a 10-day strike notice.

Wednesday night’s vote means they won’t actually take to the picket lines until Nov. 3, so there is still time for them to come to an agreement with the hospital.

About 1,000 union workers were invited to come out and vote. These people are in the maintenance and service sector of the hospital so licensed practical nurses, X-ray technicians, janitors and dietary staff.

Representatives with the union said the hospital came back with some major concessions with this year’s contract for them. They are still negotiating union recognition, pay and benefits. This year, SEIU’s regional director said it’s all the more concerning that this going on during a health care crisis.

“It’s a scary situation,” Sherri McKinney, SEIU District 1199 regional director, said. “We think that this community should reach out to this administration. We think that this community should reach out to the hospital administration and say how dare you take away benefits from workers in a pandemic - workers that were in the hospital day in and day out who have worked for the last 20 plus months in the middle of the pandemic, risking their lives, risking their family’s lives and now we want to come after them.”

SEIU will go to the negotiating table with the hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday of this upcoming week.

The hospital issued a statement on Friday.

"As has always been our practice, the hospital has been negotiating in good faith, and we will continue to negotiate in good faith with the union with the goal of reaching a mutually beneficial agreement," said Molly Frick, director of human resources for Cabell Huntington Hospital, said.