Lawrence and Memorial takes title at Westerly Hospital on June 1

Cut-backs in staff, services and facilities already started

By Will Collette

I doubt that many people were surprised to see that 45 Westerly Hospital workers were pink-slipped right after Lawrence and Memorial Hospital of Stonington jumped the final hurdle in their $69 million deal to buy the troubled hospital. You could see it coming a mile away.

Most of the 45 laid-off workers were in Westerly Hospital’s business office whose functions are being merged with L&M. There will still be a cashier’s office at Westerly to collect on patient bills, but not much more.

Thirty of the 45 laid-off workers are non-union; 15 are members of Service and Maintenance Workers Unit Local 5104. L&M sent 600 letters to Westerly Hospital workers “inviting” them to apply to keep their jobs after L&M’s June 1 take-over. Workers who did not receive letters assume, as they should, that they are on the lay-off list.

The “invitation” letter probably is, in itself, a violation of the National Labor Relations Act if it was sent to any Westerly Hospital union member since they have a contract and under the NLRA, L&M assumes that contract as part of the acquisition deal. Being “invited” to plead to keep a job you already hold almost certainly constitutes an unfair labor practice.

But L&M seems indifferent to its labor law violations as workers at Lawrence & Memorial have pending labor charges against L&M, and just filed two more complaints.

L&M is also trimming its own operations in Connecticut even more. As I’ve reported earlier, L&M has also been in a running battle with its unions over what the unions charge are unfair labor practices, mostly involving L&M’s shifting of jobs held by union members to L&M’s non-union subsidiaries – union workers at the hospital get cut while new, non-union jobs open up at the L&M medical center subsidiary.

Labor Pains

The AFT is in the middle of a union drive to organize those non-union L&M subsidiaries and has already charged L&M with union-busting activities. These two new charges make the total five for alleged violations by L&M of worker rights at their Lawrence & Memorial Physicians Association (LMPA).

More than 100 hospital jobs were shifted to that subsidiary. L&M does not honor the union contracts it negotiated with workers at its main facility. Further, the AFT union charges that LMPA is “segregating” union supporters at LMPA which is a practice forbidden under the National Labor Relations Act. The union says a majority of LMPA workers have signed union authorization cards; L&M management could either voluntarily recognize that union support or else the matter can go to an NLRB-supervised election.

The union charges the “segregation” is literally physical. A statement issued by the AFT says “workers from the Lawrence & Memorial Physician Association (LMPA) were purposefully separated from union workers at the site when management erected a wall to separate the workers.” 

The union also charges L&M requires union workers to enter by a separate doorway and take their breaks in a separate break room. “L&M has, as recent as this week, constructed a door meant to further separate and segregate LMPA workers from their union counterparts.”

“An additional two charges have been filed related to the Union’s allegation that the Hospital has threatened the relocation of Unionized employees, office closure, surveillance and/or creating the impression of surveillance, threatening employees with loss of pay and benefits if they join a Union.” 

The AFT’s main complaint against L&M is that it violated the law by creating LMPA as a non-union business. This kind of illegal practice is called “double-breasting.” Double-breasting started in earnest in the construction industry where contractors would set up side-by-side union and non-union companies. Double-breasting is illegal when the companies share the same management and have co-mingled work forces and business activities.

Closed for re-purposing as space for Westerly doctors

Another L&M facility and another Westerly Hospital facility closes

An example of this is shown in L&M’s decision close down its diagnostics and lab services that had been offered at its Pawcatuck facility in the Stop & Shop shopping center on Route 2 in Pawcatuck.

The Pawcatuck facility will be used to house medical staff from Westerly Hospital’s subsidiary, the Atlantic Medical Group (AMG) which is located at 25 Wells Street. 

In a news release, L&M states that these doctors will become L&M Physicians Association (LMPA) employees after the June 1 take-over. Unsaid, but certainly implied, is that the Atlantic Medical Group will be dissolved.

Mystic Medical Center - closed

L&M also closed (actually, suggested closure) of Westerly Hospitals lab services facility in Mystic on Clara Drive.

Maybe this is a sign of the times, or just a coincidence, but Westerly Hospital will  host the first of a two-part series on Alternative Medicine on May 22. I know some people swear by acupuncture and Zen meditation, but is it a serious alternative to cutting back vital services and staff?

Hospital or sweat shop?

Look, I understand that Lawrence & Memorial has rescued Westerly Hospital from almost certain closure. I also understand that the health care industry today is a tough business that requires hard decisions from its managers. 

L&M won Rhode Island state approval for its takeover bid mostly on the strength of its healthy balance sheet and established ability to turn a profit. This consideration outweighed L&M’s problems with quality of care and respect for workers.

As I documented in my earlier articles, L&M ranks very low among all New England hospitals in patient satisfaction and low on several important quality of care factors. It ranks lower than Westerly Hospital. 

Ironically, the New London Day recently chronicled the retirement of Verna Swann from L&M after 45 years of service. She spent the last 25 years as L&M's "patient relations manager," the person who received the complaints of unhappy patients. There was no indication in the article that L&M plans to replace Ms. Swann.

I only found one category where L&M ranked higher than its peers and that was in the amount of compensation it pays to its CEO.

Some say that’s the way it has to be if you’re going to run a successful community hospital in a non-urban setting. And if you are a patient, you take what you can get and be thankful.

However, our area is also served by South County Hospital which faces many of the same challenges as L&M and Westerly. Not only does South County Hospital deal with those same challenges, it is ranked as one of the very best hospitals in all of New England in patient satisfaction and quality of care. All accomplished by a relatively low paid management and without rancorous labor relations.

Based on L&M’s record, I believe the community coalition that fought to prevent Westerly Hospital’s closure will need to stick around to make sure that Lawrence & Memorial not only turns around Westerly Hospital’s dismal financial picture, but also upgrades its services and quality.

And enough with the layoffs! No more violations of worker rights! Westerly Hospital can and should be a community hospital on par with South County Hospital, not a sweat shop nor a stolen car for L&M to strip for parts.