Norwalk Hospital’s food service workers will vote on whether or not to unionize in August. According to the head of their potential union, a consultant from their employer is trying to dissuade workers from joining.
Morrison Healthcare is the foodservice company that employs the Norwalk Hospital foodservice employees. They are not directly employed by the hospital.
Dave Hannon is the president of the Connecticut Healthcare Associates, the union that may soon represent the workers. He said a Morrison representative has held meetings with Norwalk Hospital employees without telling them that the meetings are optional.
That’s against federal and state laws.
“We had been hearing some reports of people refusing to talk to him, because he's not only talking to them in closed door sessions. He's also hanging out where they work while they're working and trying to talk to them which, you know, to me is appalling, frankly,” Hannon said.
Hannon said the reports he has heard about the conversations have been run-of-the-mill for a situation like this.
“It's all about saying how long it's going to take, how much dues might be, how difficult it's going to be for management to have direct conversations with workers,” Hannon said. “But I think the content of the meetings is less important than the fact that they're not supposed to be having them in the way that they're having them at all under the law”
The hospital employees are set to vote on unionization on Aug. 9. Hannon is confident that the vote will carry.
"Our hard-working team members are at the heart of what we do, and their determination to provide best-in-class care and service for our clients is inspiring," said a Morrison Healthcare spokesperson in response to the allegations. "We have a long history of listening to our employees, working productively with unions where they exist, and we respect employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act.”
