Tobey Hospital workers and healthcare advocates picketed outside the hospital on Friday to protest a series of Southcoast Health System financial decisions that are threatening local hospital employees.

View photos from the picket on Facebook!

Southcoast Health System is the parent company of Tobey Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, and Charlton Memorial. For the past eight months, workers at Tobey Hospital have been trying to prevent damaging wage freezes and benefit reductions that would harm workers whose wages already lag behind those at other comparable facilities.

Forty percent of 1199SEIU members at Tobey Hospital — a group that includes certified nursing assistants, housekeeping staff, technologists, patient access staff and transport personnel — are paid less than $15 an hour. Even some employees who have worked at Tobey for more than 15 years are still paid less than this living wage rate.

“Tobey Hospital plays a vital role in maintaining the health of our community, yet too often frontline caregivers here are forced to make difficult decisions about whether to pay rent or buy groceries, because they can’t afford both,” said Jerry Fishbein, vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. “Southcoast executives continue to insist upon poverty wages for these workers. We hope they will rethink their decisions and seek a more balanced approach.”

In recent months, Southcoast executives have tried to paint a picture of a struggling healthcare company in order to freeze wages and take away benefits from workers who have dedicated their lives to caring for others and to ensuring quality care is available locally in the community.

While Southcoast Hospitals Group has posted positive financial results for the past five years and enjoyed a tremendously successful 2014, many of these profits are being siphoned away from the hospitals. This includes a staggering $86 million last year alone.

Southcoast executives continue to insist upon a wage freeze for Tobey workers even though wages lag behind those at many comparable Massachusetts facilities. Workers are calling for greater transparency and urging Southcoast to prioritize investments in workers and patient care.

Check out news coverage of the picket below

Wareham Week: Tobey Hospital employees rally for a living wage

New Bedford Standard Times: Service employees picket outside Tobey Hospital in Wareham

Wareham Courier: Health care workers picket Tobey Hospital in Wareham

1420 WBSM Radio: Tobey Hospital employees picket for fair wages