NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital workers joined the Teamsters union in its protest against Waldner's Business Environments, a New York-based office furniture company.
NewYork-Presbyterian is a client of Waldner's. Waldner's shut down its in-house delivery and installation business July 5, instead choosing to subcontract those services to an outside party, according to Newsday. The decision affected workers from Teamsters Local 814, the union Waldner's previously contracted with to provide those services.
The union claims the move "locked out" and replaced more than 40 union drivers, helpers and warehouse workers. Waldner's has claimed the move affected 20 full- and part-time workers, according to Newsday.
On Tuesday, nurses, nurse aides and other healthcare workers at NewYork-Presbyterian rallied with affected union workers, the union said.
"I don't know how NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital can stand by while quality health coverage is taken away from the workers delivering its furniture," Kevin Roach, a 33-year Waldner's worker and Teamsters Local 814 shop steward, said in a statement. "My son has Down Syndrome and a compromised immune system. My family desperately needs the health care that Waldner's took away. We need NewYork-Presbyterian's help, but they are saying it's not their problem."
In recent weeks, two separate Waldner's deliveries by subcontractors were refused at a NewYork-Presbyterian construction project on the Upper East Side, the union said.
"New-York Presbyterian Hospital executives should understand that it won't be business as usual as long as they do business with Waldner's," Jason Ide, president of Teamsters Local 814, said in a statement. "We aren't going away. This attack on unions is unprecedented in the furniture industry and if Presbyterian continues to buy from Waldner's, they are complicit."
Teamsters Local 814 said it has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Waldner's, and the union also launched a new website, DropWaldners.com, "to inform Waldner's clients of the company's abuse of its workers." The union added it "is committed to bargaining a fair contract for both sides and has repeatedly expressed its willingness to consider any issues Waldner's management would bring to the table."
Waldner's did not immediately respond to Newsday's request for comment. NewYork-Presbyterian provided a statement to Becker's Hospital Review, saying, "This is related to a labor dispute between Waldner's and the Teamsters union. The hospital is not involved and is operating normally."
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