Kennedy pushing hospital-union talks

Senator Edward M. Kennedy and other top Massachusetts Democrats, including Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, are urging hospital officials to talk with a powerful labor union, a move that could ultimately result in broad union representation at Boston's largest hospitals.

Hospital and business leaders, fearing that unionization could force increases in wages, benefits, and spending on inefficient practices, have resisted negotiating with the union, 1199 SEIU. At a private meeting arranged and attended by Kennedy June 23, 1199 SEIU president Dennis Rivera told hospital executives the union could help them win more funding for government Medicaid and Medicare programs.

Despite Rivera's upbeat message, the executives were not enthusiastic, according to people who attended the session at the Omni Parker House .

``If the SEIU is successful in organizing our Boston teaching hospitals, that will only lead to higher costs at a time when we're asking hospitals to be more efficient," said Rick Lord, chief executive of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a trade group. ``Any additional costs will eventually get passed onto whoever is paying the bill, the employee or the consumer."

With the exception of Boston Medical Center, the city's major teaching hospitals -- such as Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's -- have few if any unionized employees. In other parts of the country, SEIU United Healthcare Workers East locals have engaged in sustained negative public relations campaigns intended to weaken the resolve of hospitals as they attempt to organize. But in Boston the atmosphere has been relatively calm since Rivera announced his intentions to organize last fall. In an e-mail, Kennedy said he would like to keep it that way.

``It's in everyone's best interest to avoid a drawn-out battle between these groups that have so many common interests," he said. ``I will certainly do all I can to encourage a constructive dialogue between SEIU and the hospitals to help them build a strong relationship."

Kennedy has known Rivera since the late 1970s, when he was preparing his unsuccessful campaign for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination. Rivera also has other close ties to the Kennedy family. In 2001 he spent 30 days in federal prison in Puerto Rico with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after the pair were arrested during a protest at a Navy bombing range on Vieques Island .

Further cementing their bonds, Rivera is the godfather to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s son Vieques, who was born while the two men were in jail.

Rivera said he wants to represent the union in negotiations with hospitals to improve workers' rights, boost wages and benefits, and introduce more training programs. ``Working together we can achieve a lot more than if we are at odds," he said.

Rivera said he told hospital officials he is attempting to build a national coalition between hospitals and unions, which could raise as much as $100 million through an education fund to lobby Congress and lawmakers in state capitals for universal healthcare coverage. The money comes through an employee payroll deduction.

With political leaders lining up behind the union, hospital executives have decided to avoid public debate about the costs or benefits of unionizing their institutions, which serve as teaching affiliates for medical schools at Harvard University , Boston University , and Tufts University .

The Massachusetts Hospital Association, the industry's trade and lobbying group, also is remaining silent, even though it has been warring with the Massachusetts Nurses Association over proposed mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios. Privately, it has met with labor lawyers and others to discuss SEIU.

Partners HealthCare , the state's largest hospital and physician network, had the biggest contingent at the Parker House meeting , including system chief executive James Mongan , Mass General chief executive Peter Slavin , Brigham and Women's chief executive Gary Gottlieb , and Partners chief operating officer Thomas Glynn , a former deputy secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Partners declined to discuss how it is dealing with SEIU's overtures.

``There remains a lot of anxiety on the part of hospital executives, particularly those that have no experience working with unions," Glynn said.

But Glynn said it is not surprising that Kennedy, Menino, and other Democratic leaders -- including Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and party chairman Philip W. Johnston -- are lined up behind SEIU and Rivera.

``Labor in this state has always been seen as a progressive force," he said.

Rivera's 1199 SEIU has a track record of helping Democratic leaders raise campaign money and get elected. It fielded hundreds of volunteers for Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. Nationally, the Service Employees International Union has contributed $50,000 to members of Congress from Massachusetts, including Kennedy, in recent years.

SEIU operates a phone bank in New York, capable of making tens of thousands of calls a day, and has used it this year to support Reilly's bid for governor. Reilly said in a statement that he supports the SEIU's effort to unionize more Boston hospital workers.

The union also has used its political muscle to support healthcare reform in Massachusetts. It contributed $25,000 to Affordable Care Today, a nonprofit advocacy group that campaigned for the expansion of insurance coverage. Last year, it made $500 contributions to 19 State House leaders, including House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi. DiMasi's office did not respond to phone calls seeking comment about whether he supports hospital unionization.

The union's efforts are proving productive on Beacon Hill. It has gained a seat on the state board charged with working out details of the healthcare reform law, and won passage of a bill that allows unions to attempt to organize 20,000 state personal-care attendants -- people who provide care and prepare meals for the housebound. Lawmakers overrode a veto of the bill by Governor Mitt Romney, who said it would increase Medicaid costs by designating the attendants as public employees.

At City Hall, Menino has enjoyed strong backing from SEIU. Of $133,000 in political expenditures the union reported in Massachusetts in 2005, nearly $50,000 was categorized as in-kind contributions to the mayor, such as the operation of phone banks on his behalf.

Menino said he supports the unionization of Boston teaching hospitals because SEIU provides workers with valuable training, not because the union endorsed his reelection campaign last year.

``It's not about politics. It's about workers' rights and workers' ability to move up in the economy," Menino said. Hospital executives, he said, have a ``fear of the unknown. They haven't had to deal with the union before."

Christopher Rowland can be reached at crowland@globe.com.