Danbury and New Milford Federation of Healthcare Technical Employees

Realizing Historic Wins to Secure a "Better Future"

Fri, 04/29/2022 - 3:30pm
Lawmakers in late April approved significant investments in the state workforce, capping union members' efforts aimed at successor contracts. Our latest quarterly collective bargaining report showcases seven affiliated public employee locals and their wider coalition's landmark achievement - their first such agreements without concessions in more than a decade. Together they demonstrated how a seat at the table yields much more than pay raises and better conditions.
 

"Winning a Better Future for More Working People"

Tue, 07/30/2019 - 5:30pm
Veteran labor activists in both the private and the public sectors will attest to significant challenges in winning initial and first successor union contracts. AFT Connecticut-affiliated locals secured such collective bargaining agreements, arbitration awards and memoranda of understanding over the past three months. We're highlighting two of these important victories, which demonstrated how member engagement and internal organizing can overcome steep obstacles and make meaningful gains.
 

Where the Front Line Meets the Bottom Line

Fri, 04/29/2016 - 3:30pm
Hundreds of nurses and health professionals last week gathered in Washington, D.C. to raise their voices on the issues affecting frontline caregivers and their patients. They came to the nation's capitol for AFT's annual Professional Issues Conference (PIC) and Labor Academy for hospital and healthcare workers. More than 30 members of AFT Connecticut-affiliated unions were among the attendees for this year's event, organized under the theme "Where the Front Line Meets the Bottom Line."
 

Med Techs & Therapists at Danbury, New Milford Hospitals Celebrate First Contract

Fri, 03/11/2016 - 12:30pm
Danbury - Medical technicians and clinicians at Danbury and New Milford Hospitals yesterday voted overwhelmingly to ratify a first-ever contract following more than a year of negotiations with their employer. The union of approximately 260 surgical and radiologic technologists, licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and respiratory therapists cast ballots 10 to one in favor of the tentative agreement reached with management.
 

A New Years' Message to Our Members

Thu, 01/14/2016 - 4:30pm
As we enter 2016, I find myself looking for positives in the labor movement and it's easy to become discouraged. I hear politicians and big corporations blaming the poor, people of color and immigrants for the disappearance of the middle class and worsening income inequality. The real issues we face are obscured by political sideshow.
 

Tech Professionals at Danbury Hospital Recommit to Putting "Patients Before Profits"

Thu, 12/17/2015 - 10:30am
Danbury - Surgical and radiologic technologists, licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and respiratory therapists at Danbury and New Milford Hospitals yesterday voted to retain their union representation and resume contract negotiations with their employer. The decertification election was scheduled two weeks earlier following a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by a minority of employees within the group of approximately 260 caregivers.
 

Labor History Lesson: The Alberta Nurses' Strike

Fri, 11/27/2015 - 4:30am
Dr. Martin Luther King famously said in 1965 during the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Time and again working people have demonstrated this to be true by engaging in struggle today for progress won tomorrow. AFT Connecticut Secretary-Treasurer Ed Leavy shared the story of a victory by Canadian health professionals 27 years in the making in his October "Vocational Instructor" labor history column:
 

Spotlight: Hospital Radiologic Technologists

Fri, 11/13/2015 - 4:30pm
It is often said that doctors can't prescribe a cure if they don't know what the ailment is. In acute care settings a correct diagnosis frequently relies on the important work of radiologic technologists -- or "rad techs." During the annual recognition of these vital hands-on healers, we are spotlighting union members who produce the medical imagery allowing physicians to "discover the inside story" of their patients.
 
Click here for commentary on the value of rad techs.
 

Danbury Hospital Leadership Indicted on Charges of "Restraining, Coercing" Caregivers

Sun, 11/01/2015 - 10:00am
Danbury - Service, maintenance, environmental workers and nursing assistants at Danbury and New Milford Hospitals are reacting to a complaint issued in response to charges their employer violated federal labor laws. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Thursday scheduled hearings over illegal practices conducted by Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN) managers and consultants against the group of approximately 800 employees. The board's complaint cites violations that were part of a coordinated campaign by the non-profit's top executives to subvert their healthcare workers' legal rights to form a union.
 

Hospital Board Member Challenged for "Putting Squeeze" on Caregivers

Sat, 10/03/2015 - 3:30pm
New Orleans - The responsibility of a Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN) board member for wasting patient care dollars was today raised at the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (IIABA)'s national meeting. Leaflets calling attention to IIABA Vice Chair Spencer Houldin's role in ongoing labor disputes at Danbury and New Milford Hospitals were distributed at the association's fall leadership conference. AFT President Randi Weingarten was joined by AFT Connecticut Vice President Shellye Davis in distributing the information and discussing the issue with industry chiefs from across the country.
 
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