Teamsters File Injunction Against Rush University Hospital

Teamsters File Injunction Against Rush University Hospital

Local 743 Files Injunction to Halt Unilateral Implementation of Health Plan

November 22, 2004

(CHICAGO, IL) - Local 743 filed an injunction in the U.S. District Court to stop Rush University Hospital from unilaterally imposing changes to the health care plans of Teamster-represented employees.

Nearly 1,000 Teamsters work at the hospital as housekeeping, transportation, dietary and cafeteria workers, clerks, truck drivers, certified nurses’ assistants, pediatric nursing assistants and engineering workers.

On October 12, Rush negotiators proposed to eliminate its existing HMO plan and also replace the PPO plan currently used by its union employees. The hospital’s move is in direct defiance of an agreement that has worked between the two parties for nearly four decades.

In 1967, the union and hospital signed an agreement that required each side to submit unresolved disputes to an arbitrator. After nearly 40 years of successful negotiations without a labor dispute, Rush has decided to abandon this agreement. The injunction seeks to force Rush to live up to the terms of the agreement and send the current health care issue to an arbitrator.

“Rather than live up to an agreement that has been successful for four decades, Rush is attempting to bully its workers into an unaffordable, unacceptable health plan,” said Bob Walston, Local 743 President. “We want to settle our differences at the bargaining table, however, if the hospital continues to refuse to honor its commitments to go to interest arbitration, we may be forced to take other actions.”

Under the current collective bargaining agreement, Rush workers have the choice between an HMO and a PPO. More than 85 percent of the workers are enrolled the HMO plan, which has a $30 monthly premium co-share and $20 co-pay per visit with no annual deductible. Hospital management is attempting to eliminate the HMO and replace it with a PPO that carries with it a $35 co-pay and an annual deductible of $1,500-$3,000 depending on the plan and coverage selected.

“This new plan makes health care unaffordable for healthcare workers. That it prices health care out of reach for the very people who work at the hospital is a cruel irony at best,” Walston said. “Just as the hospital is required to provided quality health care for its patients, it should provide quality health care for its workers.”

Teamsters Local 743 represents more than 13,000 hardworking men and women in the Chicago area.

For a copy of the filing, contact or Reginald Ford (312- 282-5560).