Over 2,500 Teamsters at Rhode Island Hospital are celebrating a contract victory after mobilizing members in a contract campaign.
Members will get pay increases of more than eight percent by the end of this year, higher differentials, and protected health benefits. They also defeated management proposals that would allow the hospital to charge members for parking.
The Teamsters represent 2,500 workers in almost every department in Rhode Island Hospital including skilled maintenance, laundry, CNA’s, and cafeteria workers. Their jobs are different, but they came together around the contract campaign slogan “United for a Good Contract.”
Members wore badge pulleys that said “Strength in Unity” and distributed a bulletin RIH Fight. Local 251 held meetings in person and on Zoom where members could talk directly with the bargaining team and Contract Action Team about how negotiations were going and how members could be involved.
Strike Threat
Negotiations came to a head in late April. The Contract Action Team made plans to hold a strike authorization vote and let members know the International Union is paying enhanced strike benefits of $1,000 a week.
“The existence of the Teamster strike benefits was huge for us,” said Local 251 President Paul Santos, who was part of the original organizing committee when Rhode Island Hospital workers joined the Teamsters. “Knowing that we had that support made members feel powerful enough to fight for what we deserve.”
As the bargaining team entered their last scheduled day of negotiations, word spread through the hospital, “Rhode Island Hospital Teamsters are not afraid to strike.”
By the end of the day management backed down and gave in to all remaining union demands.
“We didn’t get aggravated at the table,” said rank-and-file nutrition department worker and first time bargaining team member, Charna Flood. “We let the membership communicate our strength and trusted that their knowledge and courage would get back to management.”
On April 27, members ratified the contract by a vote of 909 to 237 – a 79 percent margin in record turnout.