Northwell Health workers in New Hyde Park demand equal benefits

More than 50 union workers from Northwell Health’s core lab protested Wednesday outside their New Hyde Park labs and testing facilities, calling for benefits to match those of other unionized company employees.

A total of 850 workers are in the core lab's bargaining unit. The group voted last year to join United Healthcare Workers East, part of 1199SEIU. The union also represents about 25,000 other Northwell employees in separate bargaining units.

Workers in the core lab unit include lab technologists, technicians, phlebotomists, transportation staff and other clinical staff.

On Wednesday, the workers wore pins, some with "invisible heroes" written on the front. They demonstrated during a break from work and said they want to meet with Northwell officials to negotiate better benefits, including guaranteed pensions, "no-cost" health insurance and more say in who treats them.

Union leaders and protesters said other members get paid family health insurance and receive funds for education and toward pensions.

"We want what every other Northwell employees have," said Patrick Shanley, 53, a technologist at the New Hyde Park lab, as he and other demonstrators marched back and forth outside the facility.

"We see that we're not on the equal playing field as everybody else, although during the pandemic, we were invaluable," Shanley said. "We were the ones that kept Northwell afloat during the pandemic and now that things got well for them, they're busy investing in other areas, and we just want them to invest in the workers."

Northwell is the state's largest health care provider and private employer, according to the health system.

Northwell Health said it respected the union’s right to protest and noted no workers were on strike from their jobs.

"We want to assure our patients and the community that normal laboratory operations will continue, providing uninterrupted, superior care, which remains our top priority," Northwell officials said in a statement. "We are committed to engaging in constructive, good-faith negotiations with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East to reach a fair contract that supports our dedicated laboratory workers and upholds the high-quality care our patients deserve."

Workers said they were also worried about the availability of Medicare and Social Security when they retire, and wanted the option to choose their own doctors outside of Northwell Health.

Narda Skyers, 41, of Connecticut, has worked as a phlebotomist for almost 20 years, and is currently employed at Northwell Health Labs at Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn.

She said her toddler son had open-heart surgery when he was 5 months old and spent a month in the hospital. She said she had to take him to get his feeding tube reinserted before the protest Wednesday.

"I don't want Northwell to say, ‘Oh, you can only see this doctor.’ Then how does my son get treated properly? How do I know he's with the best?" Skyers said. "We don't have to say Northwell is the only one that can treat my kid. Of course, someone [else] can treat him also. I don't want to be stipulated to [Northwell] doctors and not be able to get a second opinion."