The room is airy and filled with light. A bright bouquet – a gift from employees – sits on the sill of a window looking out at a screen of leafy trees. To one side of a desk facing the door and beneath a mantel with framed pictures of children is a table and giant strategy board that is clear white. There’s not so much as a shadow of what topics may have been discussed in recent meetings.
The room has a cozy feel.
Yet this is ground zero for Mary B. Marran MS, OT, MBA, president of Butler Hospital, who is key player in a strike that as of Tuesday has been 26 days.
After a greeting, Marran sits at the table. She doesn’t have a laptop computer or a note pad. She’s ready for questions and her answers come quickly with her hands accenting her points.
Marran doesn’t fit the mold of a hospital executive. It’s not a position she pursued. Her leadership capabilities were recognized from within and she accepted the president’s post hesitatingly in 2019, expecting it would be temporary.
“I never thought I would be in management,” she said.
Her first taste of management came as the hospital’s director of occupational therapy and then director of records followed by running admissions and information health records and then landing as vice president of operations.
She wants strikers back
Marran says she’s fully committed and wants to rebuild a cooperative and trusting culture once a contract is in place. Despite reports that the hospital is posting positions, meaning strikers could lose their jobs, she looks to bring back those who walked out.
“There’s nobody better than that staff out there on the [Blackstone] boulevard,” she said.
Marran’s relationship with Butler began as an occupational therapy intern 40 years ago. She knows the staff. She thinks of them as family. That’s made it difficult for her, as from her perspective she has been transparent with what the hospital can afford in a four-year contract. She believes she’s put all the cards on the table. The complete details of the offer are posted on the hospital website.
What’s she’s gotten, she says, are distortions of the facts, “stunning deceptions” and threats, prompting her to retain personal security for herself and key personnel.
What’s disheartening is that the longer the strike persists, the more it costs to keep the hospital functioning and the less she has to address a contract. Not only does she feel that the hospital risks sliding backwards, but also the opportunity to help employees and more importantly the services Butler provides.
Walking away from a good deal
What she can’t make sense of is why SEIU 1199 NE walked away from the table May 15 without countering the hospital offer, at the risk of jeopardizing what she feels was once a cooperative and trusting relationship between management and the union.
“They left a really good deal on the table,” she said in a phone interview prior to a face-to-face interview last Thursday. “We’ve been able to work things out, but since the pandemic it has changed … it’s highly contentious right now,” she said.
On Thursday she was optimistic that an 11-hour session on Wednesday – the first since the strike – was a step in the right direction. Both sides agreed to stop talks at 11:30 p.m. The next meeting is set for June 17. Marran did not attend the Wednesday session – the hospital’s legal team was at the table – although Jesse Martin, SEIU 1199NE executive vice president, was present.
Marran is of the opinion that this is bigger than Butler and that what happens here is a show of strength when it comes to other issues. That view was highlighted in the hospital’s online newsletter warning strikers “the union is wasting your time.” It goes on to say the union walked out of the portion of the session devoted to negotiations, adding, “it does not want to negotiate. It wants to prolong the strike at your expense.”
“I’m struggling with what’s happening here,” Marran said.
Union positions stated
The Beacon emailed Jesse Martin, SEIU 1199 NE executive vice president, as well as the firm handling news releases for the union. It heard back from the firm. A May 8 post on the SEIU site quotes Martin saying, “Care New England has repeatedly discussed its financial success; however, that success is because of the hard work and sacrifice of its dedicated employees. Butler Hospital (CNE) has failed to make proposals to lift its workforce out of poverty, address chronic workplace violence or protect their retirement and health insurance benefits.”
A post on June 3 quotes Martin as saying, “Mary Marran’s claims of heartfelt concern for Butler Hospital employees are perverse in light of her decision to replace dedicated frontline staff — some of whom have served the hospital since graduating high school — with out-of-state, temporary workers. Not only is this immoral, it is illegal in light of the hospital’s unfair labor practices. Stripping Butler employees of their job security and health care benefits is not how you build a better hospital. Real improvement comes from respecting workers’ voices, honoring their contributions and paying them fairly to ensure both staff and patient safety.”
In a statement issued Tuesday, Marran said, “We remain committed to settling the agreement and having our staff return to their jobs. Meanwhile, staff are welcome to join those who have already made the decision to return.”
According to its website, District 1199 SEIU New England represents 29,000 health care and service workers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. In Rhode Island, 1199 SEIU NE represents almost 5,000 members. 1199 SEIU NE is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – a union of over 2 million members across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. SEIU has been a national leader in pushing the growing fight for a $15 minimum wage and a union movement.
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