A group of technicians at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is taking preliminary steps towards joining the Dartmouth division of the Service Employees' International Union and have begun to set up meetings with union officials. The technicians' interest comes just several months after DHMC nurses began to consider forming a union.
The Dartmouth SEIU division, Local 560, currently represents about 600 employees at Dartmouth. The division is split into three separate unions of College employees -- one group represents Safety and Security employees, one is composed of employees of the Hanover Inn, and the third, largest group made up of employees of various College departments, including Facilities, Operations & Management, the Office of Residential Life, the Dartmouth Dining Association, the Dartmouth Skiway and the Athletic Department. DHMC technicians would join the third section if their attempts are successful.
President of Local 560 Earl Sweet said that DHMC technicians have contacted SEIU to set up a meeting exploring membership in the union, but the meeting has not yet taken place.
"[It's] nothing substantial yet," Sweet said.
Jason Aldous, a DHMC spokesperson, said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth that he was not certain how many technicians were considering unionization.
"It is still very unclear as to how many employees have expressed interest in joining a union," Jason Aldous, a DHMC spokesperson, told The Dartmouth in an e-mail. "We have serious concerns that if a union were to come here that it would damage the cooperative working environment that allows DHMC to be an innovator in so many areas and in making the care of its patients the best in the region."
Aldous also expressed reservations about using the general term "technician" to describe DHMC employees.
"It is also unclear precisely what was meant by 'technician' since we have technicians that are responsible for a wide variety of jobs and none are generically referred to as 'technicians.' There are laboratory technicians, pharmacy technicians, etc.," Aldous said in the e-mail.
Sweet told the Concord Monitor that he did not know how many of DHMC's 6,500 employees are technicians. DHMC is the Upper Valley's largest employer.
The technicians' recent interest comes just five months after DHMC nurses began talks with the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The nurses' interest in unionization may have contributed to two recent changes at the hospital, namely the resignation of DHMC's chief nursing officer on Sept. 16, and a four percent pay increase that nurses will receive in October, according to Deb Rigiero, associate director of organizing at MNA.
"[Hospital Administrators] attempt to say, 'We are changing management and having an open-door policy. Give us a chance to improve before unionizing," Rigiero said in a previous interview with The Dartmouth.
Sweet said the technicians' interest in Local 560 indicates they are having problems with their employer.
"If they had a positive relationship, they wouldn't be thinking about unionizing," he said. Sweet cited benefits such as equal pay for equal work, increased representation and the ability to negotiate a contract as reasons why the DHMC employees should join the union.
DHMC technicians did not return requests for comment by press time.
