The Hopkins Hospital’s service workers ended their three-day strike on April 11, failing to obtain the higher wages for which they fought. The strike initially erupted on April 9 after the Hospital and service workers disagreed over higher wage proposals.
Wages at Hopkins range from $10.71 per hour to $27.88 per hour. However, many service workers are on Medicaid and food stamps. 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the labor union representing approximately 2,000 employees at the Hospital, says that about 1,400 of them are paid less than $14.91 per hour, a rate which qualifies a family of four for food stamps.
Hopkins officials did not present a counterproposal on April 11, but negotiations resumed on April 14. There still has not been an agreement on wages despite the strike, and although they reported back to work at 6 p.m. on April 11, the workers threatened to strike again.
“We are negotiating in good faith, working to reach a settlement that’s fair to everyone and reflects financial responsibility on the part of the hospital,” Hopkins spokeswoman Kim Hoppe said in a statement.
The Hospital has maintained that it will not negotiate this issue through the media.
“Out of respect for our employees and the bargaining process, we will take those issues to the table and bargain there and not in public,” Vice President of Human Resources Bonnie Windsor said in a statement.
Hopkins undergraduates have also attended and participated in these strikes, adding to the crowd of workers, nurses and doctors expressing their solidarity.
“The fact that Johns Hopkins, an institution which does so much important work in the field of public health, pays their workers paltry wages that can barely cover the cost of living for themselves and their families is indefensible. Many of these individuals can’t even afford the cost of rent or their own health care, despite having worked at Hopkins for more than a decade,” senior Rachel Cohen wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
