Last night’s contract talks between Johns Hopkins Hospital management and hospital service and maintenance workers ended around 8 p.m., with no agreement.
The collective bargaining process between management and the 2,000 workers started March 4, and the workers’ contract expiredthis past Monday, March 31.
In recent bargaining, Hopkins has moved closer to the $15 an hour that workers originally called for, but the back-and-forth continues. If an agreement is not reached by Wednesday, the employees have threatened to strike.
We reached out to Johns Hopkins Hospital for an interview, and they said no, and gave us this written statement:
“We are negotiating with union representatives in good faith and are working to reach a settlement that’s fair to everyone and reflects financial responsibility on the part of the hospital. Out of respect for our employees and their labor union, we are negotiating directly with them and not through the media.”
In this interview, we first hear from two Johns Hopkins Hospital employees, Kiva and Bob.
Then, Sheilah Kast is joined in the studio by Armeta Dixon, Vice President of the local chapter of 1199SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers. Also in the studio is Bryan O'Keefe, a labor lawyer who represents employers – not Johns Hopkins – for the firm Shawe and Rosenthal.
