CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nurses in Corpus Christi staged a demonstration by gathering near the Corpus Christi Medical Center Bay Area. They're hoping to convince the hospital management and the public that they deserve higher wages.
HCA Healthcare, the company that owns CCMC, said all of its management have taken pay cuts and they are trying to avoid layoffs. They said with demands for higher pay from the union, they may have no other choice.
The Nurses Union in town rejected the company's efforts to negotiate. In a statement the hospital said:
"At a time when hospitals across the country are struggling and many are resorting to furloughs and layoffs, it is disappointing that this union is demanding pay raises and rejected the continuation of a generous pay program that has provided continued paychecks for more the 120,000 colleagues. The goal of HCA Healthcare’s pandemic pay program has been to keep our caregivers employed and receiving paychecks at a time when hospitals throughout the country are experiencing significant declines in patient volume and there is not enough work for them. More than 16,000 union members have benefitted from this program, even though it is not part of their contract. Because of this decision by this union, the program will now end for NNU members on June 6, but will continue for other colleagues. While colleagues elsewhere in our organization are forgoing wage increases, and executive leadership, corporate and division colleagues and hospital CEOs, CFO,s CMOs, CNOs, and COOs have taken pay cuts, this union is demanding wage increases. We still hope to avoid layoffs; however, the union’s demand for raises makes that more difficult.”
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