Protestors gathered in front of Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital Friday to demand a contract for maintenance workers.
Over 30 protestors lined up along the busy avenue in front of Piedmont Hospital today. They came out in support of the maintenance crew, which voted to unionize last summer.
Demonstrators carried signs demanding Piedmont management negotiate a contract. Chris Carr is an organizer with the International Union of Operating Engineers, and he says the process is moving too slow.
“They filed for a union election 8 months ago, and we’re not getting anywhere with negotiations, so we’re going to stick up for these workers.”
He says the maintenance crew, which takes care of doors, electrical systems, and plumbing issues around the hospital, mainly wants better working conditions.
“They know they’re not gonna get filthy rich doing their job, you know. They want a hell of a lot more respect from their front line supervisors.”
Don, who works on Piedmont’s maintenance team, picked up a sign and joined demonstrators. He says his coworkers are struggling.
“Some days it’s good, some days it’s bad. They put us on this rotation shift, that doesn’t too much bother me, I’ve been on this shift before, but it does bother some of the guys who have regular lives and small kids. I don’t know how much longer we can continue to do this.”
He hopes a contract can iron out issues like shift changes.
Piedmont Athens Regional did not respond to a request for comment.
The union representing the maintenance team has also filed seven labor law violation complaints with the federal government against the hospital.
