Eight Brown University unions team up to form labor council

In the wake of the bitter Butler Hospital strike, solidarity needed for future success

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Unions across Brown University and Brown University Health have banded together to form a new labor federation with about 7,000 members total.

In a Monday announcement, the Brown University Labor Council (BULC) branded itself as “the first effort at creating a cross-sector labor organization” since the Ivy League school partnered with Lifespan to rebrand as Brown University Health last summer.  

The council’s president, Maddock Thomas, said in a statement that it will work to unify Brown  and Brown Health workers across any respective labor campaigns, contract talks, and picket lines. Beginning Sept. 15, the council plans to hold a series of educational events on labor organization to help workers get involved in their unions and organize their workplaces.

“In this time of overlapping crises, the voice of labor is crucial,” Thomas wrote. “A strong labor movement means that working people will have a seat at the table as we work to solve these problems. The BULC allows us to build a cohesive labor movement for workers affiliated with Brown across all sectors and workplaces.”

Labor organizations in the council include:

• Brown chapter of American Association of University Professors
• Brown University Postdoc Labor Organization
• Brown Health and Care New England units of Committee of Interns and Residents
• Graduate Labor Organization
• Brown Student Labor Alliance
• Transdev and Rhode Island Hospital units of Teamsters Local 251 
• United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) Local 5098
• Library and dining units of United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island

Support for Labor Unions Near Historic High as Trump Trashes Working Class

As Trump and Republican Congress pummel unions, the more people rise in support

Jon Queally for Common Dreams

Winning the long, tough strike at Butler Hospital showed
what strong unions can do

A new poll reveals that Americans continue to support organized labor at historic levels, even as the Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress take a battering ram to union rights and the nation's working class.

Gallup's annual survey, released Thursday, shows more than two-thirds of people in the US (68%) approve of labor unions and the economic security and prosperity they provide working families. The popular support matches record-high numbers of recent years after a long decline from the 1960s through the early 2000s.

As Gallup notes:

When Gallup first measured Americans’ ratings of labor unions in 1936, 72% approved. Approval reached the record high, 75%, in 1953 and 1957 and ranged between 63% and 73% from 1958 through 1967. Then, from 1972 through 2016, approval was lower, with few readings over 60%, including the 48% all-time low recorded in 2009. This was the only time approval fell below the majority level. Since 2017, approval has been above 60%, the longest period at this level since the 1960s.

Trump administration has proven no friend to organized labor, from attacking federal unions to paralyzing the National Labor Relations Board

Trump accelerates union-busting

Jake Rosenfeld, Washington University in St. Louis

During the 2024 election campaign, the Republican Party’s historically fraught relationship with organized labor appeared to be changing. Several influential Republicans reached out to unions, seeking to cement the loyalties of the growing ranks of working-class Americans who have been backing Donald Trump’s presidential runs and voting for other members of his party.

During Trump’s first bid for the White house, the percentage of votes in households where at least one person belongs to a union fell to its lowest level in decades. In 2021, Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator at the time, wrote a USA Today op-ed supporting a unionization drive at an Amazon facility. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, walked a United Auto Workers picket line in 2023 in solidarity with striking workers.

As the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, Trump spotlighted International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien with a prominent speaking slot at the Republican National Convention – rewarding the union for staying neutral in that campaign after endorsing Joe Biden four years earlier.

Yet O'Brien shocked many in the convention crowd by lambasting longtime GOP coalition partners such as the Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable for hurting American workers.

Once in office, Trump continued to signal some degree of solidarity with the blue-collar voters who backed him. He chose former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Teamsters ally, to be his second-term labor secretary.

I’m a sociologist who has been researching the U.S. labor movement for over two decades. Given conservatives’ long-standing antipathy toward unions, I was curious whether the GOP’s greater engagement with labor portended any kind of change in its policies.

Trump’s Department of Labor Continues Its Onslaught against Workers

Flurry of rule roll-backs hurt workers

By Century Foundation staff Julie Su, Senior Fellow; Rachel West, Senior Fellow and Andrew Stettner, Director of Economy and Jobs

The Trump administration is doubling down on the president and his Department of Labor’s (DOL) deep hostility toward workers. 

Over the past six months, Donald Trump, his inaptly named Department of Government Efficiency (whose efforts to cut the federal budget by $2 trillion was a colossal failure and which reversed itself on many occasions, actions that cost more than they saved), his union-busting cronies, and his Department of Labor leadership have actively—and in many cases illegally—cut funds for programs that support workers, worker organizing, worker safety, and job training. 

Trump’s DOL has reversed commitments to states to build an effective unemployment insurance system; undercut its own ability to fight wage theft, international worker exploitation, and discrimination; and actively dismantled the department from the inside by slashing 20 percent of its staff.

Just before the July 4 holiday—as the nation was focused on Republicans’ efforts to pass the largest-ever cuts to Medicaid and food assistance—Trump’s DOL issued a new barrage of attacks on workers, promising to turn a blind eye to stolen wages, safety violations, and corporate overreach. 

In total, the DOL announced sixty-four regulatory actions, the vast majority of which would reverse critical standards that ensure workers get a just day’s pay and come home healthy and safe (see Table 1 and Appendix). 

These actions would put the lives of workers across the economy at risk, deprive millions more of minimum wage and overtime protections, and sanction discrimination against workers of color, women, and workers with disabilities. 

At a time of rising prices, increased economic anxiety, and heightened dangers from climate change, the DOL should be doubling down on its mandate to protect and empower workers. Instead, the Trump administration is making workers more vulnerable to abuse and less safe on the job.

This factsheet highlights just some of the key deregulatory actions that will harm workers, identifying those that are particularly important to push back on through notice and comment procedures where available.

Confront or Cave? Federal Pressure Splits the Building Trades

Often conservative construction unions will have to decide what they will do

Natascha Elena Uhlmann, Keith Brower Brown for Labor Notes

Will prevailing wage be paid on ICE
concentration camp construction?

One of the last nationwide bastions of union jobs is getting jackhammered by the Trump administration. Members are languishing in ICE prisons without trial. Programs that protect members from racism and sexism are getting the axe.

In response, building trades officers are split: some are pleading, some are protesting, and others are surrendering without a fight.

Out of nine million construction workers in the U.S., one million had a union last year. Since the 1970s, when about forty percent of U.S. hardhats wore union stickers, anti-union developers have kicked unions out from most residential and private building sites.

The building trades took refuge in publicly funded construction projects and specialized industrial jobs. An old federal law that favors union hires for interstates and military outposts helps small locals of pile drivers and insulators straggle on even in rural Alabama or Wyoming, where unions are otherwise scarce.

“[W]age theft costs American workers more than $50 billion annually…more than the value of all robberies, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts combined."

Marking Labor Day, Representative Magaziner reintroduces his wage theft legislation

Steve Ahlquist

“We are here because Americans and Rhode Islanders who work hard and do the right thing are entitled to their full pay,” U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner said on Wednesday. “Labor Day is right around the corner, so today we are announcing the reintroduction of the Don’t STEAL Act, a bill to crack down on wage theft and ensure that workers in Rhode Island and across the country are not cheated out of the pay they have rightfully earned by employers who pay less than their promised wage, steal tips, or fail to follow overtime laws.”

Representative Magaziner’s Don’t Stand for Taking Employed Americans’ Livings (Don’t STEAL) Act would make wage theft a felony nationwide. Here’s a link to last year’s bill, which only garnered 25 co-signers. Representative Magaziner hopes for more support this year, including Republican support.

Here’s the video: Magaziner Wage Theft Bill U.S. Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-2) introduces wage theft legislation

"This is bullshit."

Labor & political leaders oppose Trump's Revolution Wind stop-work order

Steve Ahlquist

“We are here for what I call a reckless move by the current administration that will have a detrimental impact not only on Rhode Island, but on our renewable energy quest up and down the East Coast,” said Michael Sabitoni, General Secretary-Treasurer of LiUNA and President of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council. [It will halt] “the momentum that started here almost 20 years ago with the vision and the courage to address Rhode Island’s energy needs and all the hard work that went into building an offshore wind industry from scratch, with both Republican and Democratic administrations over the last 20 years...”

Sabitoni was speaking at a press conference held in Quonset, home to Ørsted’s Regional Offshore Wind Logistics and Operations Hub and several Rhode Island-built crew transfer vessels supporting the project.

“We’ve got a massive energy project offshore that is 80% complete, employing hundreds of tradesmen and women, that we are counting on to deliver almost 700 megawatts of much-needed power to our grid,” continued Sabitoni. “This is bullshit.”

The press conference, which included political and labor leaders, as well as construction workers, was held to condemn Donald Trump’s reckless stop-work order halting construction on Revolution Wind - a multibillion dollar offshore wind development that is 80% complete (with 506 megawatts installed of the 704 megawatt system) and critical to the region’s economy and energy future. The Trump administration’s effort to abruptly halt the project threatens thousands of local jobs, jeopardizes hundreds of millions of dollars in economic investment, and would increase electricity prices and impact grid reliability across New England.

“Hardworking men and women have dedicated time, effort, and training in a very difficult environment to build this complex offshore wind project,” continued Sabitoni. “The biggest little state in the union has a saying, ‘We are small, but extremely sophisticated.’ Rhode Island is the birthplace of the offshore wind industry, and it’s going to be Rhode Island that sends a message that this is our energy future. We need to continue to provide reliable, cost-effective energy for the citizens of Rhode Island and the New England region.”

Also speaking were Governor Daniel McKee, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Congressmen Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo, Patrick Crowley, President of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and Co-chair of Climate Jobs RI, and Rachel Miller, Chief External Relations Officer at Building Futures. Dozens of union workers and climate advocates were also in attendance.

Here’s the video: "This is bullsh*t." Labor and political leaders oppose Trump's Revolution Wind stop-work order - YouTube

Next: Resolving management issues at South County Hospital

It's Over: Butler Hospital caregivers overwhelmingly ratify new four-year contract

Steve Ahlquist

The 99% of Butler Hospital workers who participated in the vote, overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract, thus ending the state's longest hospital strike.

“We are proud to stand together to have an agreement that allows us to move forward with our shared goal of helping patients and caring for one another,” said Clinical Social Worker Brooke Huminiski. 

“In this agreement, there are lasting impactful changes that will impact workers, patients, and the larger community. This resolution is a sign of true unity that brings the hospital and its mission forward. We are incredibly thankful for the support of so many in our community as well as elected leaders, especially House Speaker Shekarchi, who helped us find a pathway forward toward resolution.”

Yesterday, before workers ratified the new contracts, the Hospital and the union, SEIU 1199NE released the following statement:

“On behalf of both Butler Hospital and members of the bargaining committee representing all job classifications of the hospital, we are pleased to share that a tentative agreement has been reached. More details will be forthcoming in the coming days.”

Here are some of those details:

• Wages: The first year of the contract full time employees will have an increase of at least $6,000. And by the end of the four year contract no employee will earn less than $20 an hour.
• Healthcare: Maintained benefits and controlled the costs for the HSA healthcare plan.
• Workplace Safety: Financial support for workers injured by workplace violence (a new workplace violence time bank seeded by the hospital and members. Injured workers can draw from it to supplement their own workplace compensation).
• Retirement: Secured affordable retirement for current and future workers through the whole agreement.
• Training: Educational benefit worth $600,00 over four years, administered by the SEIU 1199NE Training and Education Fund.
• Equity and Inclusion: Employer will provide and share costs of tri-lingual translation of medical and retirement benefits as well the union contract.

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Butler workers make hard and painful movement on contracts, Care New England unresponsive

Check the pulse of heartless hospital management

Steve Ahlquist

Since bargaining resumed with Care New England on Wednesday, August 6th, Butler Hospital workers have offered two counterproposals that significantly reduce the financial distance between the parties to end the lockout. Workers say that Care New England has not responded to their proposals.

On Tuesday, Butler workers held a press conference:

“Today, we want to provide you with some updates on the bargaining process and share some of the movement that we’ve made to come to a fair deal,” said Courtney Threats, licensed clinical social worker and part of the Butler members’ bargaining committee. “On Wednesday, August 6th, after more than a month without negotiations, we met with Butler’s legal team and the federal mediator. During that time, we spent 18 hours coming up with two counterproposals that we hoped would get us to a fair deal. Despite the movement we made, hospital leadership decided to get up at 3 am and walk away without any resolution.

“The movement we made was hard and painful, but it helped us stay true to our core values, which are to lift the least paid members of this organization out of poverty while ensuring that Butler is a safer place for everyone.

“Despite those efforts, the hospital decided against honoring the bargaining process, took to the press, making inflammatory statements about us, attacking us as workers, and attacking our character instead of coming to the table and making a fair deal. Regardless of their attempts to attack us, we have tried to stay strong, putting forward proposals that, hopefully, bring us closer to them.

“Our last two counter proposals brought us within $1.2 million, over four years, between our wage proposal and the employer’s proposal. That’s $300,000 a year. In addition, we agreed to take on a new premium for our HSA healthcare plan. Despite those efforts, we still have no resolve, no answers, and no contact with Mary Marin (President of Butler Hospital) or Michael Wagner (CEO of Care New England), who have remained silent and distant throughout this process.

UPDATED: RIPTA cuts will hurt South County though Charlestown remains the only mainland town without direct bus access

Heading in the wrong direction

By Colleen Cronin / ecoRI News staff

South County Routes impacted: Routes 66, 64, 14 reduced. Routes 65, 69 and 204 eliminated.

EDITOR'S UPDATE: The RIPTA Board has postponed their vote on these proposed cuts after receiving a last-minute letter from Gov. McKee. McKee wants RIPTA to look at ways of raising more revenue (i.e. fare hikes) and other measures to deal with their $10 million deficit. - Will Collette

 As the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority holds hearings about proposed service cuts that would be the most severe in the agency’s history, advocates and riders are urging Gov. Dan McKee to find funding for the state’s bus system.

The Save RIPTA campaign, a coalition of riders, advocates, labor representatives, and elected officials, held a press conference Monday in Providence to urge the governor to plug a multimillion-dollar funding gap for RIPTA.

“There’s still time to act,” said Liza Burkin, board president of the Providence Streets Coalition. Burkin said the state has the option of flexing funding from other sources, such as the Department of Transportation, and a budget surplus from the end of debt service payments to a bond.

Of the 67 routes the RIPTA operates, the agency is proposing cuts or reductions in service to 58 lines.

Fourteen routes and two flex zones will be eliminated, and dozens of other lines will see segments of their routes eliminated, weekend service canceled, or diminished frequency, according to a RIPTA press release.

RIPTA CEO Chris Durand has said the agency will try to reduce and modify routes without laying off employees, but pay cuts could be on the table.

RIPTA is making cuts because of a $10 million budget deficit for the coming fiscal year.

Talks resume to end Butler Hospital strike

Butler Hospital strikers put their time to good use

Steve Ahlquist

Butler Hospital healthcare workers say being on strike has not dulled their need to give back to the community. Over the last few weeks, Butler caregivers have donated over 1,400 volunteer hours at food pantries, soup kitchens, community gardens, and shoreline clean-ups. In addition, Butler workers have responded to a dangerous blood shortage across the state. 

On July 21, the Rhode Island Blood Center (RIBC) declared a blood emergency as the state’s blood supply dropped below a two-day inventory, far below the required seven-day supply to meet hospital and patient needs. In response, so many caregivers have stepped up that the Blood Center set up a sponsor code on behalf of the union to participate and donate.

"We’re on day 83 of our unfair labor practice lockout - about 12 weeks - the longest lockout/strike in hospital history in this state,” said Ben Dagnan, a mental health worker at Butler Hospital for 23 years. “To give you an update about where things stand, from our perspective: For those who haven’t heard, the hospital gave us their last, best, and final offer a couple of weeks ago, and last week, the membership voted overwhelmingly - 98% of strikers - to reject that last, best, and final offer. We voted to reject because there was some movement, but it still left our lowest-paid workers behind.

“Management says that $18 an hour is enough to survive in this state, but we all know that is not true or good enough.”

The contract Butler Hospital’s parent company, Care New England, offered did not include dietary, housekeeping, or medical records workers. “We have to make sure that everybody gets lifted up, and we go back to work when everybody is lifted up,” said Dagnan.

I asked about the status of contract talks:

“Interestingly enough," said Dagnan, “on Friday, we heard that the hospital was not interested in returning to the table, and then, yesterday, we found out they are. We’re looking forward to meeting with them tomorrow. We’re hoping that Mary Maran [President and COO of Butler Hospital] and Michael Wagner [Care New England CEO] will pay a visit. We haven’t seen them at the bargaining table once in this whole process. They’re welcome to come, and we hope to get something done. We’ve been very clear on what we’re looking for, so we’re ready to get back to the table and get a solution so we can get back to work. That’s what we want to do.”

The Publics Radio health reporter Lynn Arditi reported today that talks have indeed resumed supervised by a federal mediator. Arditi reports that even though the 700 union members voted down Butler management’s July 11 “final offer,” the union and management continued to have “off-the-books” meetings aimed at breaking the impasse.   - Will Collette

Butler workers reject hospital management's "final" offer

Strike for a fair contract grinds on

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Striking Butler Hospital workers mark outside Care New England headquarters at 4 Richmond Square in Providence on June 12, 2025. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)

Butler Hospital’s unionized nurses, social workers, mental health and support staff voted Tuesday to reject the “last, best, and final” contract offer that management had submitted two and a half weeks ago. 

The Providence psychiatric hospital owned by Care New England and about 800 workers represented by SEIU 1199 NE have been unable to reach a new contract since the previous agreement expired March 31. The union has been on strike since May 15.

According to a post on the union’s blog, 98% of workers voted to reject the contract Care New England offered on July 11.

Strengthening collective labor rights can help reduce economic inequality

Unions are our best bet to rebuild the American Dream

Skip Mark, University of Rhode Island and Stephen Bagwell, University of Missouri-St. Louis

Despite the strength of the U.S. economy, the gap between rich and poor Americans is increasing.

The wealthiest 1% of Americans have more than five times as much wealth as the bottom 50%, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve. That’s up from four times as much in the year 2000. In 2024 alone, the wealthiest 19 families got a total of US$1 trillion richer – the largest one-year increase on record.

And yet 59% of Americans don’t have enough money saved up to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense.

We are political scientists who study human rights and political economy.

In a 2023 study, our team looked at 145 countries, including the U.S., to understand the link between labor rights and inequality. We found evidence that strengthening collective labor rights may reduce economic inequality.

Empowering workers

Collective labor rights include the rights to form and join a union, bargain collectively for higher pay and better working conditions, go on strike, and get justice if employers punish workers who exercise these rights.

In the U.S., where less than 10% of workers belong to unions, union members typically earn higher wages than their nonunion counterparts.

Through negotiations on behalf of their members, unions can pressure employers to provide fair wages and benefits. If negotiations break down, the union can call for a strike – sometimes winning better benefits and higher wages as a result.

Some U.S. unions don’t have the right to strike, including air traffic controllers, teachers and those working on national security issues. But most unions have some ability to implement work stoppages and impose costs on employers to negotiate for raises and better benefits and conditions.

The $50 Million Venetian Wedding of Robber Baron Jeff Bezos

Today's robber barons revel in a new Gilded Age

Elliott Negin for Common Dreams

With all the fawning coverage of Jeff Bezos’ storybook $50 million Venetian wedding, the news media lost sight of fact that Bezos—the third-richest person in the world—is hardly worthy of veneration. He’s been exploiting Amazon workers for years.

Historians have drawn parallels between the Gilded Age of the late 19th century and what we are experiencing today. Like the first Gilded Age, Gilded Age 2.0 is marked by increasing economic inequality, the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, and a rise in populism and social unrest.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Jeff Bezos fits the profile of a latter-day robber baron to a T. Like the ruthless tycoons of yore, his business practices are unethical, he has amassed a vast fortune on the backs of his workers, and he has brutally stifled competition and controlled markets.

Amazon terrorizes its workers

With their manifestly unsafe working conditions, Amazon warehouses are a 21st-century version of a Gilded Age sweatshop. Despite the company’s claims that it protects its workforce, an 18-month investigation released last December by a Senate committee led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) found that the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer risks its workers’ health and safety by prioritizing speed and profit, and it is doing quite well on that score. Last year, the company outpaced Walmart, the largest private-sector employer, by netting $59.2 billion—a 95 percent increase from 2023.

Women & Infants workers drum up support for their Butler colleagues as strike continues

Hospital workers stand together to fight for fair contracts 

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Unionized workers at Women & Infants Hospital march outside the facility on July 23, 2025, during an informational picket in support of striking Butler Hospital staff and workplace improvements at both hospitals, which are owned by Care New England. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)

Once upon a time, Women & Infants Hospital paid for its workers to take customer service training courses at Disney World. 

Justine Iadeluca — a C-section recovery room nurse who’s worked at the hospital for 23 years — recalled attending one of those employer-paid trips to Florida. But those days are over, Idaeluca said as she stood outside her workplace Wednesday morning.

“It is now an antagonistic relationship,” Iadeluca said of the increasing acrimony between the hospital’s unionized workers, represented by SEIU 1199 NE, and the hospital’s owner, Care New England.   

Iadeluca and other Women & Infants workers held a one-day informational picket outside the hospital Wednesday to decry what the union calls management’s “illegal tactics against workers at the expense of patient care.” The union said eight worker layoffs were announced in the days leading up to the informational picket’s 10 a.m. start, all people who work in medical records and coding in the hospital’s oncology department. This week’s layoffs follow a batch of nine at the hospital announced on May 15 — the same day a strike began at Care New England’s psychiatric holding, Butler Hospital. 

“Every time that we have any kind of action, we let them know they’re having a picket, they lay people off,” Iadeluca said. “Any time the union takes steps up, there’s retaliation by the hospital. We are here to let the community know that there are inherent problems here within Care New England.”

The Women & Infants workers were joined on the picket line by their Butler colleagues, who have been striking for 69 days — the longest hospital strike in the Ocean State’s history, according to the union. The labor stoppage has proven impervious to resolution so far, with multiple meetings between the union and management producing little movement toward an agreement, even with the presence of multiple federal negotiators in the proceedings since May.  

The approximately 1,800 unionized frontline staff at Women & Infants are not on strike like Butler workers, but they feel similarly mistreated by Care New England, Iadeluca said. Women & Infants staff secured a new contract last December, staving off a potential strike. But Iadeluca described it as a “tentative agreement.”

Conditions at Butler Hospital part of a "pattern of intimidation and retaliation"

Hospital workers need fair contracts from Care New England

Steve Ahlquist

After nearly two months, the Butler Hospital workers’ unfair labor practice strike is now considered the longest hospital strike in Rhode Island history. On Wednesday, union workers from Butler and Women & Infants Hospital spoke out about Care New England (CNE) ’s sustained campaign of intimidation, harassment, and retaliatory behavior that affected caregivers and their patients.

Beth Iams, an activities therapist and mental health worker at Butler Hospital for the past 24 years, outlined a series of escalating CNE tactics against striking workers. “Our unfair labor practice strike began on May 15 at 6 am in the pouring rain,” said Iams. “Unfortunately, Butler Hospital and Care New England decided their strategy would be to use fear and intimidation to get us back to work.

“They started their campaign one week into the strike by canceling our health insurance as of June 1st. What were we going to do? We all need health insurance. For many of us, that was the start of the unity, strength, and resilience that we all possess today. Our union organized HealthSource Rhode Island to help our members find health insurance so we could all breathe again.

“Then we returned to the negotiating table, and Butler offered us less than they offered in the previous negotiations. This will do it, they thought. We will offer less, and they will break. But guess what? We didn’t break, right? We stayed unified and we kept going.

“Then they posted our jobs, taunting us with what they know means so much to all of us. Would we break then? No. Again, we relied on each other to get through those difficult times. The more they tried to break us, the closer we became. People who never spoke were now friends and people you could lean on.

“We finally felt a win. We were approved for unemployment by the Department of Health, who acknowledged that our strike was a lockout. What was Butler’s new plan? They filed a restraining order against the state to block our unemployment until an appeal was heard. This appeal usually takes 30 to 45 days, so they wanted to block our unemployment payments until that appeal was heard. They went before a judge and explained how paying us unemployment would be a hardship for them.

“Fortunately, the judge decided they would not grant the restraining order, and they lifted the hold on our unemployment benefits. That was a huge win for us. But guess what Care New England’s latest tactic is? They’re appealing this decision to the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Regardless of what they throw at us, we stay strong. Their intimidation efforts are failing. We will not take less than we deserve. The only way to end this is to give us the fair contract we need for ourselves, our families, and our patients.”

The press conference/rally was outside Women & Infants’ Hospital at 101 Dudley Street in Providence. Here’s the video: Amid longest hospital strike in RI history CNE workers outline pattern of intimidation & retaliation

On May 15, Women & Infants announced it would lay off at least nine essential workers during one of the birthing facility’s busiest seasons. This includes eliminating the entire Pre-Admission Testing (PAT) department, which plays the vital role of pre-interviewing patients before surgery to ensure none of their current medications will result in complications.

Butler Hospital strike deemed lockout while Rhode Island Hospital, Hasbro nurses weigh walkout

State deems Butler has "locked out" union workers, making strikers eligible for unemployment benefits

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

As a June heatwave scorches through Rhode Island, labor tensions threaten to boil over in the state’s health care sector. 

Unionized nurses at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital voted Monday night to authorize a potential strike, while medical and support staff at Butler Hospital, off the job since May 15, were formally deemed locked out by the state’s labor department on Tuesday, making them eligible for unemployment benefits. 

“We are feeling strong and unstoppable — now management’s only option is to sit down with us and come to a fair and equitable agreement for everyone,” Joe Maini, a mental health worker at Butler and member of the bargaining committee, said in a Tuesday night statement. 

The United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) Local 5098 represents roughly 2,500 nurses, case managers and technical and support staff who work at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital, both in Providence. SEIU 1199NE represents the 800-strong Butler workforce which comprises the nursing, clerical, dietary, technical and mental health staff at the Providence psychiatric hospital. 

Both unions’ contracts expired on March 31, and both will have the chance to hash things out again with their employers.

On Wednesday, Butler workers and owner Care New England returned to the bargaining table after two days of bargaining last week proved fruitless. 

Butler striking workers and management return to bargaining table

Fair settlement in the works?

By Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Striking Butler Hospital workers march in front of Care New England headquarters at 4 Richmond Square in Providence on Thursday, June 12, the start of a 30 hour sit-in. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)

Butler Hospital management and representatives of its striking workforce returned to the bargaining table with a federal mediator for nearly six hours on Tuesday, the first negotiating session since June 5. 

This time around, the union brought a larger negotiating committee, with about 150 members representing nearly every department in the hospital — up from 40 the last time. 

The two sides are set to resume talks on Thursday.  

Tuesday’s talks began at 12:15 p.m. and ended at 430 p.m., according to the hospital owner Care New England, which posted an update on its ButlerInfoForYou.org website. 

According to the site, the union shared proposals but did not respond to “all aspects” of the hospital’s June 5th proposal.”

The hospital administration and SEIU 1199 NE — the union representing about 800 workers including mental health staff, nurses, certified nursing assistants, and support personnel — had not convened in 12 days because there was no federal mediator available to referee. The union has expressed skepticism that a third party is needed, indicating its willingness to negotiate without a mediator as it tries to secure better wages and working conditions. 

Big protest against hospital hardball at Butler

Hundreds gather for a candlelight vigil in support of striking Butler Hospital workers

Steve Ahlquist

Last night, hundreds of Butler Hospital union workers, family members, fellow union members, clergy, and community allies gathered for a candlelight vigil to reaffirm the value of the care and dedicated frontline staff as they provide essential mental health services every day. 

In response to Care New England’s recently announced plans to permanently replace longtime staff, speakers described the irreplaceable impact of the care provided by the longtime staff at Butler for their family members. They were joined by local faith leaders, including Rabbi Barry Dolinger, Reverend Gabrielle Sclafani, Mark Sutherland from St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, and Rabbi Preston Neimeiser from Temple Beth-El.

Established in 1844, Butler Hospital is considered the oldest hospital in Rhode Island and was founded to treat psychiatric illnesses. Today, it continues to play a vital role as the region’s leading facility for mental health and substance abuse support, a need that has grown significantly since the pandemic. Since the hospital’s inception, Butler’s frontline staff have provided life-saving care and support to patients from diverse backgrounds.

Here’s the video: We are Irreplaceable Hundreds of Butler Workers and Supporters to Hold Candlelight Vigil

Time for justice for Butler Hospital workers - no more scabs, threats and retaliation

Workers march on Care New England corporate HQ as Butler Hospital cancels their health insurance

Steve Ahlquist

As Butler Hospital workers continued to wait for a response from Care New England to resume bargaining, striking workers marched to the Care New England headquarters at 4 Richmond Square, arriving around noon. They demanded that Michael Wagner, CEO of Care New England, return to the bargaining table immediately and settle a fair contract. 

On Thursday, May 29, after meeting with a federal mediator for 11 hours, union workers presented the hospital with a set of contract proposals aimed at reaching a mutually agreed-upon agreement. 

In response, Butler Hospital informed workers that they would be unable to respond to their contract proposals until the following week, days after terminating their health benefits on May 31. 

Workers’ medical benefits expired on May 31, but hundreds have been able to sign up for free or low-cost health insurance through HealthSource RI, the state marketplace.

Video: Striking Butler Hospital workers march to Care New England HQ & demand a fair contract

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