In deciding the case, arbitrator William Corbett, a law professor at the University of Montana, told Hillside to pay the employees back wages plus interest, for a total of more than $19,000.
The dispute stemmed from a state law passed by the Montana Legislature in 2005 that allocated some Medicaid money for raises for some of the lowest paid health-care workers in Montana.
Instead, Hillside management lowered wages in advance of the legislation and then used the additional public funds to make up the difference, in effect leaving its workers with no raise.
“Hillside simply stole the taxpayers' money and tried to use it to pay our contracted wage increases while trying to bust our union,” said Kari Hoffman, shop steward at Hillside and president of the union.
Hillside is one of three skilled nursing facilities in Missoula that are owned and managed by Minnesota-based Goodman Group and Sage Company. It is the only one of the three that has a union, said Local 427 executive officer Jacquie Helt.
For the workers at Hillside, the raise amounted to an average of about 35 cents an hour per person, Helt said.
“It is important for us to get raises, because as workers and employees we also have families to support,” said Hoffman, who has worked at Hillside for nearly 17 years. “Unfortunately, wages across the state of Montana for (certified nursing assistants) are very low.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that roughly 9,500 nursing assistants and home health aides earned an average of $8.98 an hour in 2006.
The 2005 Montana Legislature approved the Direct Care Worker Wage Increase Law to help these workers earn a living wage, Hoffman said, but the law also indirectly benefits nursing facilities and residents.
Nursing homes that can offer higher wages have lower turnover, and a more stable work force generally results in a higher level of care, she pointed out.
Hillside employees brought their complaint to the Montana Workers Rights Board, which ultimately recommended Hillside honor its contract with employees.
An audit by the state determined the facility did not violate any laws with its decision to use the funds, but did not consider whether any contracts or agreements with employees had been violated.
So union employees held rallies and passed out pins printed with “Where's Our Raise?” They started a letter-writing campaign and telephoned their state representatives. They also filed an official grievance with the state of Montana and, in October 2006, began the arbitration process.
While the case was being heard, state Sen. Greg Lind, D-Missoula, wrote an amendment to the original law. Approved by the 2007 Montana Legislature, and referred to by some lawmakers as the “Hillside Amendment,” it was aimed at preventing other nursing homes in the state from using the designated funds as Hillside had.
“It's an outrage a for-profit corporation decided to use public dollars to avoid a wage increase for its employees,” he said. “Essentially, they were using public dollars to subsidize their shareholders.”
Messages left with Hillside's counsel, Missoula attorney Ron Bender, were not returned Friday. A woman who answered the telephone at Hillside and would not identify herself said management had decided not to comment publicly on the decision.
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