New Milford Hospital

"Rewarding to Win on Issues that Matter" to Our Members

Despite the challenges posed by a deadly second wave of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) infections, union members over the past three months made significant progress at the negotiating table. We’re highlighting a contract victory for our latest collective bargaining report resulting from workplace activism in spite of the limitations imposed by the pandemic. The win reinforces how engaging the membership around priority issues yields real dividends.
 

Empowering Members to Meet their Professional and Personal Needs

Being part of a larger labor family that extends beyond our communities offers tangible benefits for members of AFT Connecticut-affiliated local unions. A national network provides a wealth of resources and countless opportunities for courses in professional learning, career advancement and retirement planning. Members can tap the knowledge of trained experts in high quality, cultivated workshops available in their worksites, at our state federation headquarters and at events held across the country.
 

"Winning a Better Future for More Working People"

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

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

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.
 

Labor History Lesson: The Alberta Nurses' Strike

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:
 

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

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

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.
 

Comments on Hospital Executives and Lobbyists' Call for Special Legislative Session

John Brady, RN, executive vice-president of AFT Connecticut, made the following remarks in response to comments by health network officials at today’s Republican legislative leaders' Capitol news briefing:
 

US Gov't: Danbury, New Milford Hospital Management Interfered with "Employee Free Choice"

Danbury - Healthcare professionals at Danbury and New Milford Hospitals are reacting to the recommendation yesterday by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to invalidate the results of their June 19 union election. In her report, Hearing Officer Jo Anne Howlett cites evidence to sustain charges of unlawful interference with employees' free choice by management of the non-profit network that operates both facilities. The report is based on testimony provided in July by impacted workers who recounted illegal, anti-union conduct by managers and outside consultants retained by the Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN).
 
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