The client is an integrated health services organization in the Western New York region. The system includes multiple hospitals; primary and specialty practices, rehabilitation centers, ambulatory campuses and urgent care facilities; senior services, facilities and independent housing; a wide range of behavioral health services; and medical laboratories.
A large, regional healthcare system serving more than 1.5 million patients annually, engaged Reputation Partners to support communications as it entered into negotiations for a first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the union representing more than 900 nurses at its flagship hospital.
The Reputation Partners team managed all communications related to the negotiations on behalf of the health system and hospital’s management teams. This included using a variety of communications channels (e.g., flyers, texts, videos and others) to reach the hospital’s key audiences; media training multiple spokespeople to prepare them for interviews with the media and video updates about key topics at the bargaining table; and helping the hospital successfully communicate details of its ongoing nurse recruiting efforts and positive patient outcomes to counteract negative claims from the union. The team also prepared senior executives and the boards of both the health system and the hospital for tactics the union could use during a corporate campaign to pressure them into accepting an unreasonable agreement.
Following a two-day strike by the union, Reputation Partners communicated why the strike was not as effective as the union hoped. The team also helped prevent key elected officials from actively supporting the union by engaging them early in the process and keeping them updated on the status of the negotiations for over a year.
In addition to the negotiations, Reputation Partners helped managed multiple related challenges, including the abrupt departure of the health system’s general counsel just weeks into the negotiations, other union organizing efforts within the hospital and the health system, contract negotiations at three other hospitals within the system and several incidents that required a response from law enforcement.
Finally, the Reputation Partners team encouraged the health system and hospital to bolster their reputations within the community by sharing stories that highlighted the excellent care patients received while at the hospital. The team also helped the health system and hospital continue to successfully communicate other priorities and initiatives while preventing the union from being able to connect those to the ongoing negotiations.
Ultimately, the health system and hospital were able to secure a 42-month first CBA. During the engagement, Reputation Partners was able to effectively highlight how reasonable and competitive the hospital’s bargaining proposals were, compared to what the union put on the table. This was a key factor that contributed to the health system and hospital reaching the agreement with the union in below-average time while averting a second, longer strike that the union had threatened.