Butler workers continue sit-in as strike continues during negotiation

[dutch777]

1. Given the hospital is non-profit and specializes in mental health practice it may have major cash flow issues

Mental health services are poorly covered by most private and governmental insurances and as such having that as the major focus of practice it is tough to cover operational costs. This is the reason most hospitals don't provide mental health services despite the great need, it just rarely pencils. Having worked for 12 years in a community hospital in a well healed Seattle suburb which was in the top 100 ranked hospitals nationally, we flowed $1 billion thru the books yearly and at the end of the year were lucky to be cash positive $1 million. I retired right before the pandemic and with Fed dollars they did okay thru Covid but since the subsidies stopped and prices have risen, last year they ran $90 million into the red and if they can't restructure and increase cash flow they will have to either sell to a for profit system or close within two years. Folks think there is some great reserve from the state or Fed government or private insurance that supports hospitals, but there is not. It's basically a very sophisticated and complex mom and pop cash flow business. We had about 300 SEIU eligible employees (although many eligible chose not to join the union). If we wanted to give them $2/hr wage increase for a 2,000 hour work year that is $1.2 million a year in wages plus an increase in employer share of social security and other taxes. They are necessary and valued employees and mission critical, but sometimes there are limits.