FLINT -- The following is a messge from the Teamsters Union:
Teamsters Local 332 in Flint, Michigan today announced that six Teamsters, formerly employed as clinical engineers at Genesys Regional Medical Center, won a settlement of more than $1 million in cash and benefits from the company, resolving an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the union with the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of the workers.
The complaint was filed in response to Genesys firing 12 clinical engineers without notice in April 2008 after its parent company, Ascension Health, subcontracted their jobs to one of its other subsidiaries, Trimedx. The complaint alleged that the company unilaterally subcontracted the jobs and wrongfully laid-off the workers without any attempt to bargain with Local 332.
"With this settlement, our members can finally move forward," said Nina Bugbee, President of Teamsters Local 332. "The behavior of this company was reprehensible, and its treatment of these workers inexcusable. While no fault has been found with the company as part of the settlement, there is no doubt that Genesys' actions have irrevocably affected the lives of these workers and their families."
As part of the settlement, the company is required to not only compensate the six employees monetarily, but offer retiree health care benefits to the three members who were forced into early retirement. Steve Robbins worked at Genesys for 27 years before being laid off and had to move out of the area to find work. "Genesys lost sight of the fact that its employees and their families are the community," Robbins said. "As a result of my situation, my wife, who also worked at Genesys, had to resign her job and we had to move away from the community we loved. We will never be able to recover everything we lost, but thanks to Local 332 we had someone to stand by us." The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents more than 1.4 million hard working men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
