POLITICS
Significant wage increases for 10,000 Florida members at HCA hospitals Raphael Coco, who retired in 2015 and moved to Florida, enjoys the fellowship.
Florida 1199ers
On the Move Just a members and retirees gear up for the 2024 election in their tossup state, thousands are celebrating a landmark contract victory.
1199 retirees from Florida take part in their annual picnic in Miami.
1199 retirees in Florida kicked off the upcoming national election season with their annual picnic, held in Miami. “Many of us have moved to Florida with good pensions and secure retirements, but only after working long and hard in New York to build strong union power in our workplaces and in politics,” explained attendee Diana Drayton, a retired 1199 blood transfusion technologist who moved to Miami
in 2021, adding: “We need all workers and union members in Florida to get engaged while on the job and at the ballot box to bring the same security and benefits to our working families here.” Retirees and members in Florida, as well as Georgia and North Carolina, have been working hard to get out the vote through phone-banking and canvassing for many years and the 2024 election will be no exception.
Rafael Coco was an Alcohol Rehabilitation Counselor at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, who retired and moved to Florida in 2015. He attended the picnic to meet like-minded retirees in his adopted state. “I know how important it is to elect representatives who care about working people” he said, “It is harder to organize here than it is in New York. People are much more spread out and everyone drives in a car to get anywhere.” As well as getting out the vote, 1199ers are lending their voices to a Florida campaign to put abortion rights on the 2024 general election ballot following the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion last year. If the ballot initiative goes ahead, it would give Floridians the chance to vote down a potential 6-week abortion ban that is looming on the horizon in the sunshine state. Deborah Montgomery, an 1199 RN and lactation consultant who lives in Palm Beach and works in one of the area’s largest hospitals. With the Union’s help, she recently published an opinion piece in the Palm Beach Post explaining the dangers of the new legislation. “I already see first-hand the tragedies that result from dangerous, forced or unwanted pregnancies, wrote Montgomery,
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“Babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with little hope for a healthy, happy life, and young mothers and families feeling heartbreak. “As always with this falsely righteous [Florida Governor Ron DeSantis] regime, the new law will most hurt women and communities who need the most compassion and support. Lowincome women, already challenged by lack of access to affordable healthcare, will not be able to afford to travel to another state that provides proper reproductive and abortion rights.”
“I know how important it is to elect representatives who care about working people” – Rafael Coco, retiree
After taking part in a national campaign with partner locals across the country, Florida 1199 members ratified a landmark contract with HCA Healthcare in August, including significant wage increases over the next three years for the lowest earners. Jennifer Parker, is a Unit Secretary who has works at HCA Florida Osceola Hospital, located in Kissimmee, on the southern outskirts of Orlando for 23 years. An active member of the bargaining committee, she said: “This contract is huge for us. It is the largest percentage raise that I have ever had.” After months of hard bargaining, HCA was also persuaded to lift the salary caps for the first two years of the contract. This meant that Parker, who has not had a raise in eight years, was able to benefit along with thousands of other long-serving members. The three-year contract covers about 10,000 nurses, CNAs, technicians, dietary aides and other healthcare workers in 19 Florida HCA hospitals and also includes wage equity for new employees. This means that when a new hire is brought in at a higher rate than current employees with a similar job title and comparable experience, HCA must raise their existing employees to the new, higher rate. It is not just dramatic wage improvements that members won. There was a significant step forward towards managing the staffing crisis. Contract language was agreed which now requires HCA to compensate workers if they are called off a shift that is understaffed or results in understaffing. Management must provide a copy of the staffing matrix if requested and must allow posting for all employees to see. Florida members, including Parker, turned out in strength with partner locals at a high-profile action in front of HCA headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. 1199ers also took part in a national action in Los Angeles and gave interviews with toptier media outlets to help turn the tide in the negotiations. 1199 Magazine
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