News
October 7, 2022
SEIU 1199 Members Call Out Hypocrisy Of Executives At St. Vincent And Demand Severance Pay
St. Vincent executives announce plans to uproot the lives of workers employed by the hospital
after taking over $11 Million in Covid-Relief money to operate the hospital. Individuals who
have cared for the community for years are being pushed out without a penny. Union workers
speak out against mishandling of funds and fight for the severance they deserve.
Cleveland, Ohio – On September 14th, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center announced its
imminent closure. This followed the closures of previous hospitals that provided critical care
to poor people and people of color in the Cleveland area including St. Luke’s, Mt. Sinai, St.
Michael’s Hospital, and Huron Hospital. The removal of vital services will impact the
surrounding communities of color, poor people and working class and leave 1,000 frontline
healthcare workers without a job.
“After St. Vincent took over $11 million dollars in Covid-Relief funds to keep the hospital
open, they announced the closure of nearly all vital services and the layoff of nearly 1000 workers.
St. Vincent Hospital CEO Adnan Tahir, and the Chief Executive Officers at Sisters of Charity,
Janice Murphy, and St. Vincent Health Campus, Susanna Krey are responsible for throwing
workers out on the street without a penny to help them transition into a new job, while they
sit back cashing in their ginormous paychecks. This executive team clearly doesn’t care about
the community it pledged to serve or the workers they employed.” said Samara Knight,
Executive Vice President of SEIU 1199.
“The hospital claims to operate in the name of God and the executives act like the devil. The
hypocrisy of the executive team at St. Vincent is evident in their gross mishandling of the
workers they are pushing out. They hand-picked who would be granted severance pay and
turned their backs on some of the lowest paid employees. They should never be trusted to
provide care to the community when they show such blatant disregard to human suffering!
Deciding to give some workers a severance, while others are thrown out to starve is
unconscionable and will be met with great resistance,” said Becky Williams, President of
SEIU 1199.
SEIU members held a rally on Friday, October 7th at 12pm in front of St. Vincent and over 100 members of the community and hardworking women and men at St. Vincent Medical Center demanded that top-level leaders at St. Vincent take care of those who have kept St. Vincent running.
