After his recent attempt to help negotiate a labor contract for healthcare workers at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital failed to move the needle, New London Mayor Michael Passero made a pointed observation about the compensation levels of the hospital’s lowest-paid union members.
“We’re finding out that the lowest-paid workers are working for poverty wages,” said Passero, an attorney who worked in the area of labor law before his election as mayor. “It means L+M’s leaving our social service agencies and state government to take care of their workers,” he said. “No one’s going to be able to live on $15.50 an hour.”
And the hospital knows it. At a church service following the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walk from city hall, a union representative told the congregation that a food pantry is available at the hospital for workers who need to make ends meet.
Every time the negotiations between a major employer and an employee bargaining unit reach an impasse, and one or both parties make the details public, the information should be checked for how far the average member’s wages will go toward meeting the cost of living in the area.
In a time of inflated prices, such as we have now, a contract that elapsed last June would likely fall short of compensating workers adequately. Paying household bills has gotten tougher than it was the last time the contract was negotiated. To be fair, both sides have recognized the need for wage increases. However, the union, which signaled it...
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