From Heroes to zeroes: Cook County Health workers
Cook County Health workers protest the use of private agency workers Friday outside Stroger Hospital.
Stefano Esposito/Sun-Times
About 100 Cook County Health workers and their supporters rallied outside Stroger Hospital on Friday, accusing the county of “turning their backs” on them by filling vacant positions with private contract workers who often aren’t up to the job.
“The morale has never been lower. ... We are short-staffed and overworked,” said Veronica Williams, a Stroger Hospital surgical technologist, standing in front of her workplace Friday.
She said contract workers are “Band-Aids on a problem that is only getting worse. Many of the agency staff provided to the hospital are simply inexperienced and lack knowledge and means to conduct quality care.”
Cook County Health officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
SEIU Local 73, the union that represents about 2,100 county health system workers, says the county has spent about $500 million on contract workers since 2018 — to make up for staff shortages, a nationwide problem.
“An agency-heavy workforce lowers the quality of care to county patients and takes away stable union jobs,” said Dian Palmer, the union president.
Temporary contract workers currently fill about 600 county health care jobs, Palmer said.
“They don’t know the hospital. They don’t know the policy and procedures. They don’t even know their way around and our members have to help them do their job,” Palmer said.
Instead, Palmer said, the county should be filling those positions with union workers and offering them a retention bonus. So far, Palmer said, the county has come to the table with “regressive proposals.”
“The county offers workers crumbs,” she said. “The county calls you heroes, but treats you like zeroes.”