Wage Victory for Johns Hopkins Workers Following Four Month Struggle

By JoAnne Pow!ers

[Carrietta Hiers]: “I’m excited about the agreement. We gave the boss the proposals; they told us that our proposals took their breath away, and that we would never see fifteen dollars an hour.”

That was Service Employees International Union organizer Carrietta Hiers celebrating a fair wage victory for hospital workers at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. After a four-month struggle workers won a major victory in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. The hospital and SEIU 1199 reached a tentative agreement on a new four-and-a-half year contract which guarantees substantial wage increases to workers, with raises as high as 38% for low-paid workers over the life of the contract, and a minimum wage of up to 15 dollars an hour for long-time workers. The Union membership will vote on ratification at the end of this week.

Food service worker Michelle Horton was part of 1199’s bargaining committee:

[Michelle Horton]: “Everyone will walk away with something fair and decent. It’s something that they can feel proud of ‘cause they know that they stood up and stayed strong, and in the end we accomplished what we set out to do.”

The tentative agreement follows a three-day strike in April, and workers were priming for a second four-day strike two weeks ago which was narrowly-averted. Despite the difficulty of striking for low-wage workers, they were prepared to take action if management failed to move on the pay issue:

[Carrietta Hiers]: “They said it was worth it, so they took a three day strike without pay. It made the news all over the country. Folks didn’t know that their prestigious Johns Hopkins hospital actually paid poverty wages to some of the departments within the hospital.”

Johns Hopkins is Baltimore’s largest healthcare employer and the raises are expected to set a higher standard for workers across the city. Hiers and SEIU hope their victory will lend moment up to the nationwide movement to improve pay for low-wage workers:

[Carrietta Hiers]: “We’ve actually set the standards for pay level for health care workers in the city. The support staff, we are the engine that actually drives the hospital. Without this, the hospital can’t function. Health care workers, food service, fast-food workers: all deserve to have a livable wage.”