United Food and Commercial Workers union backs new contract at UMass Memorial

SHREWSBURY – The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1445 voted on Friday, June 6, at the Maironis Park Banquet Hall in Shrewsbury to accept a new three-year contract, just two days before the current contract expires.

It passed by a narrow margin with record membership turnout, said Jack Kenslea, the union’s political director. The final tally wasn’t available after 8 p.m. on June 6.

“Obviously things were left on the table, but the gains got enough members to decide it was worth ratifying the contract,” said Kenslea. 

A UMass Memorial Health spokeswoman said the hospital wasn’t prepared to immediately comment. 

The union’s 1,050 members range from housekeepers and food service workers to surgical technologists, anesthesia and endoscopy technicians, and laboratory staff across several of the hospital system’s campuses.  

Some picketed for over a week outside hospital entrances and were prepared to take a vote on June 6 to potentially strike as early as Monday, June 9 if a new deal hadn’t been reached. 

Beyond the three-year deal that Kenslea said is a win because UMass wanted two years, union members will get a minimum wage bump of $1 hourly and additional pay hikes based on years of service. 

The “big thing,” said Kenslea, was the union’s success in keeping items out of the contract that UMass wanted.  

Those included outsourcing of jobs; new technologies that the union claimed would have negatively impacted workers’ hours, pay and quality of work; and the removal of current health insurance plans that would have forced workers to pay a significantly higher share of premiums.  

The union is pleased that a new deal is done before the current one expired, said Kenslea, a shift from past negotiations when UMass was willing to negotiate for months after a contract’s expiration. Media reports, picketing and rallies pressured UMass to get a deal done sooner this time, he said.

“The level of public attention the hospital was getting increased a sense of urgency that they felt to get something done, which the hospital has typically not felt for this contract in the past.”

Contact Henry Schwan at [email protected]. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.