“We currently believe that our labor relations are good,” says a Community Health Systems 2007 report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But don’t tell that to Clara Gabbard and her co-workers at Community Health Systems’ Kentucky River Medical Center in Jackson, Ky. By 2008, the employees had been struggling 10 years to get the hospital to recognize their union and bargain a first contract. Meanwhile, Gabbard has sought to get her job back after the company fired her eight years ago following her efforts to form a union.
Despite being ordered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to bargain with employees, Community Health Systems refuses. But the corporate honchos can't be worried that a contract with workers would dent its finances—the corporation made $30 million in profit in 2007 and its CEO pulled in $12 million last year, making more in one day than many of the workers at the hospital make in a year.
Gabbard started working weekends at the hospital in 1990 while teaching during the week at a public school. At the medical center, she worked as a ward clerk, making sure doctors’ orders were delivered to the pharmacy and the lab. Like many middle-class Americans who struggle to make ends meet, Gabbard had taken a second job to help put her two children through college. But even after her children graduated from college, Gabbard remained at the hospital because she loves helping people. “It was the hardest job I ever did,” says Gabbard. “But I loved working at the hospital.”
Although Gabbard enjoyed friendly relationships with her co-workers, the hospital administration was not so nice. The workers suffered under abusive and disrespectful treatment from management and the nurses were concerned about rising nurse-to-patient ratios. To win respect in their workplace and improve the quality of care at the hospital, the workers formed a union with the United Steelworkers () in 1998.
Gabbard and her co-workers believed that after they voted to join the USW, they could begin bargaining for a fair contract. “I thought that was it,” says Gabbard of the organizing victory. But the hospital refused to negotiate. “I had no idea we would be treated this way,” Gabbard says. After a year without reaching a contract, the workers voted again in favor of their union, but the hospital still refused to bargain. In 2000, the workers went on strike to demand the hospital come back to the table. The hospital threatened to replace the striking workers and several supervisors told workers they would be fired—after the strike ended, the hospital fired Gabbard and three of her co-workers.
Since then, the employees have waited out a series of court cases, rulings and appeals, none of which have forced the hospital to reinstate Gabbard, recognize her union, or bargain a first contract. The NLRB repeatedly has ordered the hospital to bargain, but without meaningful enforcement, the hospital continues to ignore its orders.
