CSEA Members Rally Against Dangerous Cuts at Westchester Medical Center

VALHALLA, NY (11/21/2011)(readMedia)-- Fed up with years of management ridding Westchester Medical Center of vital community services and seasoned staff, members of CSEA rallied this afternoon to take back their hospital and put a stop to a dangerous management proposal that would harm patient care.

Members of CSEA Westchester Medical Center Unit 9201, along with hospital nurses, held a mid-day rally on hospital grounds where union leaders blasted hospital CEO Michael Israel's threat of another round of sweeping layoffs and criticized cuts that have hurt those in the community who depend on WMC's safety net services.

"The people who provide patient care and make this facility run are saying it's time to take back Westchester Medical Center for the entire community and all patients," said CSEA Statewide Treasurer Joe McMullen, who addressed participants.

Since taking the reins as CEO, Israel has quietly cut many of the vital services that are a unique part of WMC's mission as a public benefit corporation. One of Israel's first acts as CEO was the abrupt closure of the Taylor Care Center, the public nursing home attached to the hospital that served residents with complex long-term care needs. Most recently, Israel shuttered the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, a mobile mental health crisis unit that deployed into the community with first responders.

Now Israel has threatened to eliminate close to 650 hospital workers, showing that quality patient care is no longer hospital leaders' main priority, CSEA officials said. Roughly 350 of the proposed layoffs are in the CSEA bargaining unit.

"The closure of the CPEP this summer and now these 650 layoffs are part of a systemic dismantling of WMC's capacity to care for the patients who rely most on the facility," said CSEA Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo. "Michael Israel is undermining our medical center's public mission to serve the entire community."

While Israel has been quoted extensively in the local media discussing his reasoning behind slashing hospital jobs, CSEA leaders noted that Israel's administration has not been as forthcoming when it comes to complying with legal requests for hospital financial records. Israel's vice presidents have both ignored requests for information submitted by CSEA under Freedom of Information Law and the Taylor Law and engaged in seemingly endless correspondence with the union aimed at limiting or blocking the release of information.

"We have a top-heavy, overpaid administration making all these decisions at WMC without any oversight or transparency," said CSEA Westchester County Local President John Staino, a longtime WMC worker. "At one time, the elected county Board of Legislators had some oversight, but we're now faced with a hospital board that seems to be mostly made up of pre-selected insiders who rubberstamp everything Michael Israel wants."

The cuts Israel is proposing will put patients in danger, said CSEA Westchester Medical Center Unit 9201 President Peter Piazza.

"This administration is placing patients last on the priority list," said Piazza. "These layoffs will have serious adverse effects on the quality of patient care. Proper patient care is contingent upon the appropriate complement of professional health care providers and ancillary staff."

CSEA, New York's Leading Union, represents approximately 1,600 of the workers at Westchester Medical Center who have allowed the facility to earn its reputation of world class medicine.