March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Nursing home chief preparing for strike> Management team to carry on routine

CALAIS — Officials of Barnard Nursing Home were notified Thursday that about 70 members of Teamsters union Local 340 who are employed at Barnard’s would strike the home at 3 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 23, in an effort to win a first contract and a wage hike with other benefits.

Ed Fournier, the nursing home’s administrator, said he received the notice at 1:30 p.m. Thursday from the home’s attorney, Clare Payne of Bangor.

The official 10-day advance notice, which is the amount of time that a union must give before striking a nursing home, was initiated by Local 340’s business agent, Carl Guinard of South Portland. On Tuesday, Dec. 7, Guinard notified Barnard’s attorney.

Fournier quickly responded to the notice of an impending strike by calling a meeting of his 17-member management team, which may be designated to assume the duties of about 60 certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and about 12 licensed practical nurses (LPNs) who are the backbone of the home’s work force.

In the past several months, the CNAs and LPNs voted three times to give Guinard authority to strike the home.

Issues expected to be resolved in an initial contract include a specific 401 retirement plan; a cost-of-living increase that may include a uniform allowance for full-time employees of the nursing home; overtime after eight hours; a description of the union shop steward’s duties; and a clear definition of what should be included in “earned benefit time.” Negotiation teams were expected to consider a proposal for converting holiday time and vacation time into “earned benefit time,” while keeping sick-leave time as a separate benefit.

Guinard and Teamsters President Robert Piccone were unable to be contacted by the NEWS for comments on Thursday.

The home’s management group is committed to continuing business as usual. “We will provide quality services and we are not going to allow the Teamsters to steal Christmas from the people who live here,” said Fournier. The management staff, he said, would continue the home’s holiday schedules and all routine activities. “Our management team is confident we’ll get through this period.”

The home’s social programs leader, Mary Fales, will be calling each BNH resident’s family members to invite them to a meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 20, at the home. Also, she and other management team members “will reassure the people who live here that they won’t be abandoned. Rather, this will be the best Christmas ever,” the administrator said.

Expressing his personal opinion on the timing of the strike notice, Fournier said, “I find it hard to believe that anyone would strike a nursing home. And I find it particularly hard to believe that they would strike during this holiday season.

“Residents in a nursing home have many needs, and those needs are heightened during the holiday season because of the losses they faced during their lifetimes and it all comes back during the holidays. They seem to relive the grief. It is just really offensive that people would walk off their jobs of caring for these people and walk away from their relationships with these people,” he said.

Fournier said the approximately 100 residents of the home were “innocent victims. The Teamsters have not considered the people.”


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