Resolution in Support of CHA SHARE Workers — File 24-1687

Resolution in Support of CHA SHARE Workers WHEREAS: The Somerville City Council recognizes the invaluable service that healthcare workers provide for the wellbeing of our constituents; and WHEREAS: The workers at safety net hospitals, such as Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), serve an even more crucial role by providing services for vulnerable populations regardless of their ability to pay, insurance status, or immigration status; and WHEREAS: Increasingly administrator-led decision-making in regards to patient care has exacerbated burnout among clinicians at CHA, leading to staffing shortages, increased workload, and deteriorating patient care; and WHEREAS: CHA clinicians can be forced to see up to 20 patients in an 8-hour shift, requiring them to give less than half an hour of attention to each patient regardless of their needs and forcing them to provide what some have called “unethical care”; and WHEREAS: CHA primary care physicians, physician assistants, psychiatrists, psychologists, hospitalists, rheumatologists, and physiatrists signed union cards in September and October to form CHA SHARE to ensure that clinicians would have a voice in patient-facing decisions, standards, and procedures; and WHEREAS: CHA has refused to voluntarily recognize the union despite 70 percent of eligible workers signing union cards and thus forcing CHA SHARE to file with the Department of Labor Relations on November 21st; and WHEREAS: The Somerville City Council has long stood in solidarity with our healthcare workers, including those at Cambridge Health Alliance through the passage of resolution #211810, which supported CHA nurses organizing for a fair contract; and WHEREAS: The Somerville City Council recognizes that the long-term sustainability of CHA workers that CHA SHARE is organizing for is critical to staff retention, improved patient outcomes, and thus the wellbeing of Somerville residents; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: That the Somerville City Council calls upon the leadership of Cambridge Health Alliance to speedily negotiate with CHA SHARE in good faith for better healthcare outcomes for all.