Boston Area Hospitals Face Massive Cuts, Layoffs

The economic crisis is wreaking havoc on homeowners, jobs, education, and social services across the country. Now, in Massachusetts, vital health care services are under attack from budget cuts carried out by the Democratic Party governor Deval Patrick. As a result, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), one of the largest health care providers in the Boston area, recently announced plans for deep cuts, closures, and layoffs.

These cuts signal a complete failure of the sham “universal health care” system in Massachusetts that forces residents to buy insurance while protecting the parasitic role of the for-profit, private insurance companies. Health care workers and communities will now pay the price in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression with layoffs and a further undermining of community health services.

CHA employees and affected communities are outraged over these developments. A strong mood for action is developing. Rank-and-file union members and community activists, along with members of Socialist Alternative, are now campaigning to build a fightback that mobilizes the power of CHA workers, their unions, and the surrounding communities.

On Wednesday, January 28, the administration at the Cambridge Health Alliance which includes Cambridge, Somerville and Whidden Memorial (Everett, MA) Hospitals, announced massive cuts and layoffs which will affect the communities and workers in these cities. CHA, along with Boston Medical Center (Boston City Hospital), is one of the two Safety Net Community Hospital systems that treat the poor and uninsured. CHA is the largest provider of inpatient psychiatric beds in the state, of which there is a chronic shortage. The Free Care system which CHA depended on for most of its finances has been destroyed by the Patrick administration and replaced by mandated health insurance which just penalizes people who can't afford it.

300 workers will be laid off in March and June. Somerville hospital will be effectively closed with the loss of all its inpatient beds. Four Health Care centers will close. An inpatient addictions/detox unit in Somerville (one of the few left in this area) will go. Cambridge Hospital will shut its inpatient pediatric floor, its Step Down unit and a large adult inpatient Psychiatric unit called “Cahill 3.”

The two main unions in Cambridge Hospital are MNA (Mass Nurses Association) which has all the nurses organized and the Laborers Union which includes secretaries, councilors, nursing assistants, housekeepers and respiratory therapists. Whidden and Somerville have separate bargaining units for its MNA and SEIU members.

The Laborers just signed a new contract. The laid off workers on the floor were shocked to hear that union members no longer have a seniority bumping clause language in their contract (last hired, first laid off). It was removed a few years ago with most workers unaware of the fact. Many have decades of seniority at the hospital. A similar floor, called “Cahill 4” has newer hired workers who tend to be more under management’s thumb than Cahill 3 workers.

The MNA are still in contract negotiations. The mood to do something amongst the rank-and file is very strong. Union activists are talking about doing some actions to all the workers throughout the hospital, talking to doctors, nurses and councilors.

The author is a member of Socialist Alternative. This op-ed was originally publsihed atwww.SocialistAlternative.org