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Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital Service Workers Win a Voice for Quality Care and Good Jobs

Approximately 500 workers join state’s largest and fastest growing healthcare union

Boston, MA (March 22, 2017) – Service workers at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital voted overwhelmingly to join 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the largest and fastest growing healthcare union in Massachusetts. Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital is located in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood and is part of Partners HealthCare.

The diverse group of nearly 500 service workers includes administrative, housekeeping, and food service staff, as well as medical interpreters.

"Through a free and fair election process, service workers at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital joined together and will now use the strength of their united voice to better advocate for themselves and their families while continuing to provide the quality care their patients need and deserve,” said Tyrék D. Lee, Sr., Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. “We are proud to welcome our new Faulkner sisters and brothers into our 1199SEIU family and look forward to working with them to ensure all workers – including those not yet unionized – have good jobs, fair wages and respect, dignity and a voice in the workplace.”

“I have been an employee of Faulkner for more than 50 years,” said Mary Panciocco, Unit Secretary at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. “I came from a union background and know firsthand the difference unions have made for my family. Over the years, I have seen a lot changes here at Faulkner. With 1199SEIU, I believe we will be able to have a voice in those changes.”

The service workers at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital participated in a free and fair election process that began on January 30 and allowed workers to make their own decisions about whether or not to join the union.

“I voted yes to join 1199SEIU because I believe we will have a stronger voice to advocate for interpreter services, a vital link to quality medical care for limited English speaking patients,” said Nicki Croghan, a Medical Interpreter at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital.

The Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital service workers are among hundreds of additional healthcare workers who recently voted to join 56,000 1199SEIU members in Massachusetts and over 400,000 members on the East Coast. In May 2015, over 200 workers at Medical Resources, a private home care agency based in Newton, voted to join the union. Over 40 workers at Brockton Visiting Nurses Association joined 1199SEIU in October 2016, and 80 technical workers at Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer joined the union earlier this month.

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Representing more than 56,000 healthcare workers throughout Massachusetts and over 450,000 workers on the East Coast, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. Our mission is to achieve affordable, high quality healthcare for all. 1199SEIU is part of the 2.1 million member Service Employees International Union.

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In the News:

The Boston Globe
Faulkner Hospital Workers Vote to Join Union
March 22, 2017
By Priyanka Dayal McCluskey