Negotiations between service and support staff and Unity Point-Meriter have stalled as union members demand the hospital return to the table to bargain in good faith.
On March 24, service and support staff represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Wisconsin held a press conference in front of Meriter Hospital, 202 S. Park St., to give an update on continued negotiations. Union members have been in talks since February and have extended their contract three times now as negotiations are still in the works. The most recent extension has been pushed out to April 11.
“Meriter has a sign on the wall, and every time you’re in the hospital, you see it. It says ‘You matter,’” said Michael Elvord, service and support union bargaining chair. “What we’re asking management to do today is do more than write it on the walls. We are asking them to actually live up to the values they speak of.”…