Service Employees International Union, which represents more than 1 million healthcare workers, is taking aim at Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare for what it calls runaway executive competition in an advertising blitz.
The advertisements include direct mail to residents and a television commercial that talks about executive compensation versus worker compensation. The campaign focuses on the compensation of HCA CEO Sam Hazen, who received $30 million in his second year at the helm. According to the union, Mr. Hazen earns more than 1,000 times the yearly pay of tens of thousands of front-line HCA workers.
SEIU healthcare workers started the campaign after HCA's annual shareholder meeting, in which shareholders voted against a measure to explore increasing the role quality metrics play in executive compensation.
An HCA spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review that the union's advertising campaign is based on misleading and inaccurate information, and was launched in part due to the company's decision not to renew a labor neutrality agreement with SEIU.
"The campaign being orchestrated by SEIU is based on misleading and inaccurate information, but most disheartening is the lack of respect and compassion this labor union is demonstrating toward our nurses and colleagues who show up every day to care for others," an HCA spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review. "Last year, HCA Healthcare made the decision not to renew a labor neutrality agreement with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) that gave them the freedom to organize multiple hospitals without the voice of the organization being heard."