Health care workers ready to strike Monday

Employees at 8 Illinois corrrections facilities battle Health Professional Ltd.

Health care workers at eight Illinois Department of Corrections facilities are prepared to go on strike Monday at 7 a.m. They are striking against Health Professionals Ltd. (HPL), the private vendor that employs them.

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As of press time, contract negotiations were still ongoing between a federal mediator and HPL representatives.

Health care employees at Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Pinckneyville Correctional Center, Lawrence Correctional Center in Lawrenceville and Dixon Correctional Center are prepared for a strike. Juvenile correctional facilities in St. Charles, Chicago, Joliet and Warrenville would also see its health care workers picket if no settlement is reached by the Monday morning deadline.

In the event of a strike, the question of how these correctional facilities will combat the shortage of health care employees is still being debated. Pinckneyville Correctional Center had no comment on the issue.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has stepped in to help these health care workers what they say is a fight for equal pay.

Buddy Maupin, AFSCME’s regional director, said that HPL’s current contractual proposal would leave 28 employees with no chance for a raise in the first year of the contract and 29 workers without a raise in the second year. On top of that, Maupin said the contract would single out its health care workers at Lawrence, Menard and Pinckneyville by paying them $2.50 per hour less than HPL employees in other facilities.

Mark Samuels, public affairs director for AFSCME, said that this is yet another case of a private vendor taking advantage of its employees.

“Privatization offers government services contracted to the lowest bidder,” Samuels said. “The bottom line is that the only way a private vendor can do very well is by taking it off the hides of the employees.”

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Samuels said that while he is skeptical of private vendors, AFSCME is not out to belittle Wexford and Addus. He said that his organization is simply helping HPL employees in their fight for equal pay.

“The real issue here is that HPL employees do identical work to regular state employees and people who work for the other two private vendors,” Samuels said. “It’s really not a comparison issue. It’s about everyone being paid equally.”

Lori Gaston, president of AFSCME, said that these health care workers have been under-appreciated for too long.

“These are professionals who like what they do,” Gaston said. “They do awesome work and should be treated with more respect than what they’ve seen so far. Basically, they’re being discriminated against.”

Reporter Burke Wasson can be reached at [email protected].