When Valley General Hospital hired a contracting firm to build an expansion to the hospital's emergency room, they got more than they bargained for. They got picketers.

Thursday, the first day of construction on the emergency room project, members of the Carpenters Union showed up along with workers from construction company Kirtley-Cole, and held aloft a banner declaring Valley General Hospital bad for the community.

"We're pretty disturbed with the way he (Kirtley-Cole) pays his carpenters," said Jimmy Matta, spokesperson for the Carpenters Union. "He doesn't pay area standard."

The contractor has been involved in labor disputes with the union for about a year, said Matta.
The hospital had no choice but to hire Kirtley-Cole, however, said hospital spokesperson Monica Sylte.
"The hospital went out a couple months ago to get bids for the expansion," she said. "We are obligated by law to select the lowest bidder, because we are a publicly funded hospital, and Kirtley-Cole was the lowest bidder."

And carpenters are also being paid fairly to complete the work at the hospital, she said. "We are also required to pay prevailing wage on this job," she said.

That is true, the union leader acknowledged.
But the said the hospital was still at fault for hiring the firm. "The law says they have to hire the lowest responsible bidder," he said. "This is not a responsible bidder. We believe Kirtley-Cole is not being responsible to the community." The company should have an apprenticeship program, should offer better health benefits, and should pay more, he said.

Kirtley-Cole pays quite well and offers a handsome suite of benefits, including health care, said company partner and COO Mark Lewinski. "We at Kirtley-Cole pay out people the minimum of what the union calls the standard area wage," he said. "There's really a lot of misinformation coming from the union."

Kirtley-Cole is itself not a union company, but the union is trying to get all area companies, union or not, to pay a standard wage. The union is out of line in targeting the hospital, added Lewinski. "I think that's unconscionable," he said.

The union's practices of protest have in the past been so objectionable to the company that they have filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board, he said. The picketers are not striking or staging a slowdown, but merely protesting, he added.

The hospital is building the $1.7 million emergency room expansion to allow a division between the waiting room and the ambulance port, which will give a great level of service and will improve patient privacy, said Sylte.

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