The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York), December 6, 2006, Wednesday

The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)

December 6, 2006 Wednesday
FINAL EDITION

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C1

HEADLINE: SEIU SILENT ON HOSPITAL DOWNSIZING PLAN;
STATE'S BIGGEST HEALTH-CARE UNION HAS NOT JOINED CHORUS OF OPPOSITION.

BYLINE: By James T. Mulder Staff writer

BODY:
One voice is conspicuously absent from a growing chorus of labor unions opposing a state commission's proposals to downsize New York's health-care industry.
Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, an aggressive foe of past state efforts to cut health spending, has not taken a public position on the sweeping recommendations of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century.
The commission is calling for closures, mergers and downsizings of hospitals and nursing homes statewide that would eliminate about 7,000 jobs. The proposals will be enacted unless the state Legislature rejects them by the end of this month. Gov. George Pataki and Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer support them.
Since the recommendations came out last week, CSEA, the Public Employees Federation, New York United University Professions and the New York State Nurses Association have been urging legislators to reject the proposals that could put many of their members out of work. CSEA cranked up the volume this week with a statewide newspaper and radio advertising blitz.
But SEIU 1199, the biggest health-care union in the state, has been uncharacteristically mum. In Central New York, the union represents workers at Crouse, Community General, Auburn Memorial and A.L. Lee Memorial hospitals, all of which are targets of the commission's recommendations.
The union has 228,500 members in New York, 17,000 of them Upstate. No one from the union spoke at a public hearing about the commission's recommendations conducted Friday by the Senate Health Committee in Albany.
"We're still studying the report," Mike Whyland, who speaks for the union, said earlier this week.
Some observers see 1199's silence as a sign it probably won't oppose the recommendations.
"One would think if they were going to be aggressively opposed to it, they would have weighed in by now," said Tom Dennison, a health-care management professor at Syracuse University.
Ken Margolies, director of organizing programs at Cornell University's labor school, said 1199's silence represents a departure for the union.
"It means they are looking at it differently than they might have in the past," Margolies said. "They are taking a longer-range view and saying the system isn't necessarily as rational as it should be. To just knee-jerk resist may not get them very far."
The powerful union might not be saying much because it, along with the governor and the Legislature, supported the creation of the commission. The union has said it sees the commission as a way to reform the state's fragile health-care system, which has been struggling with hospital closures and bankruptcies.
"Right at the inception, the union was involved in trying to set up the thoughtful and deliberative process the commission followed," said Elliott Shaw of the Business Council, a business lobbying group based in Albany.
It would be disingenuous for the union to oppose the recommendations now, he said.
After the commission released its recommendations last week, the union released a brief prepared statement.
"This is a sad day for New York's health community," it said, adding that the scope of the commission's recommendations far exceeded what was expected.
Marshall Blake, 1199's executive vice president, said last week the union wants to make sure any members who lose jobs get financial assistance and opportunities for retraining. Asked what he thought of the commission's report, Blake said: "Some of it makes sense and some of it doesn't."
Stephen Madarasz, who speaks for the CSEA, said 1199 might have decided not to fight if it believes some consolidation in the health-care industry is inevitable.
"They are probably looking at this and figuring they can live with some aspects of it, and where they can't, they will fight them on an individual basis as far as implementation is concerned," he said.
The union might be reluctant to fight because $1.5 billion in federal money to help pay for industry restructuring is at stake. If the commission's recommendations are not enacted, New York will forfeit that money. In addition, New York has set aside $1 billion to pay for hospital closings, pensions and retraining.
Margolies said SEIU 1199 may believe it's necessary to sacrifice part of the health-care system to make the whole system healthier.
James T. Mulder can be reached at 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com