Resurrection’s Anti-Union Crusade Hurting Its Bottom Line

by James Parks, May 3, 2007

The failure of Resurrection Health Care’s (RHC’s) management to deal fairly with its workers is hurting the company’s bottom line. The bond-rating firm Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Resurrection’s debt rating, citing among other things “pressures from a protracted labor union campaign.”

In fact, Moody’s press release announcing the downgrade notes the union’s campaign five separate times. Among the company’s challenges, according to Moody’s, is a protracted corporate labor campaign, which continues to distract management’s attention and consume financial resources.

What could improve the rating, according to Moody’s?

Resolution of labor campaign.

Back in November 2006, Fitch Ratings, one of the nation’s top credit rating agencies, downgraded Resurrection’s debt outlook from stable to negative.

Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, urged the company to make peace with its employees in light of the urgent need to improve its financial condition.

Resurrection management cannot expect to improve its performance unless it treats its employees fairly and allows them to have a voice on the job. You cannot run a successful business, never mind a hospital, if you refuse to heed workers’ legitimate aspirations.

The employees at these hospitals very much want Resurrection to be successful, but the company can’t succeed without the input of its employees. Resurrection’s employees need to have their voices heard and their services valued if management is to fulfill its mission.

RHC workers have been fighting to win a voice at work with AFSCME Council 31 for four years in the face of intense management opposition. Last year, the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Resurrection alleging that the company violated federal labor law by “interfering with, and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the [National Labor Relations] Act…” Employees are seeking union representation because of concerns about the impact that the hospital chain’s rapid expansion has had on working conditions and patient care. 

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