CAMC workers protest unfair pay, 'appalling' treatment from executives
"If it were not for us coming into work every day to take care of those patients, these doors would not be open. We have gotten zero compensation from this from the very beginning.”
By Douglas Harding
Dozens of Charleston Area Medical Center workers protested outside the facility Thursday, demanding they be fairly compensated for their labor throughout the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“Basically, all the things that provide a livelihood to us are being taken away because of the decisions of someone who’s in a position to make millions per year and doesn’t really know what’s happening firsthand,” a CAMC worker who spoke anonymously for fear of being fired, said. “It’s beyond frustrating.”
The worker said CAMC employees have not been compensated with hazard pay throughout the pandemic and have had their 401(k)s slashed for the rest of the year, while other local hospitals, such as Cabell Huntington Hospital, St. Mary’s Medical Center and Thomas Memorial, are paying employees bonuses and providing free meals after receiving CARES Act funds.
“CAMC reportedly received around $75 million (of CARES Act funds), and we workers have seen none of that. “They held our raises—they didn’t back pay us for our raises,” the worker said. “It’s very frustrating to see people who work these long hours and long shifts not being compensated appropriately. They don’t even acknowledge anything we’re doing except by putting up these signs that say ‘Heroes work here,’ but if you’re going to do that and then go insult your workers in the media, that says more about you than it does about us.”
The worker referenced comments made by CAMC CEO David Ramsey to media outlets earlier this week regarding a rise in coronavirus cases amongst hospital staff members.
“Last week, our CEO came out and blamed us for exposing ourselves to COVID in the community and bringing it back to the hospital when we know that not to be true,” the worker said. “The health department, through contact tracing, has basically proven that most of the employee exposures within the hospital have come from patients and visitors (and not from general community spreading). He makes over $4 million but stripped our 401(k) match. And the hospital was reimbursed for financial losses, but we haven't seen a drop of hazard pay. When he needed something to blame the infection rate in the hospital on for PR, he was so quick to throw us under the bus.”
Last week, Ramsey told Eyewitness News: “They're not getting it from patients. They're not getting it from visitors because we're not allowing visitors. A staff member is bringing it from home and then, unfortunately, not all of our staff have been consistent in masking especially when they are around friends. The hospital is a reflection of the community. […] To be candid with you, employees have to keep themselves safe."
A CAMC worker at the protest said the comments made by Ramsey are “insulting” because the sentiment that hospital workers are irresponsible is untrue and because Ramsey himself does not work on the frontlines fighting the pandemic.
“We’re upset at the words spoken about us because we know it isn’t true—we have been wearing our PPE, and we are very diligent in taking care of our patients and making sure not to expose ourselves, so to come out and say that we’re getting it by being irresponsible in the community is, quite frankly, insulting,” the worker said. “Someone who barely steps foot in our facilities can’t say what happens to employees when they’re being overworked, overstressed and taking care of all these really sick patients day in and day out. We’re the patients’ only support system. The money we make seems so miniscule compared to the executives who make anywhere from half-a-million to several million a year.”
According to publicly available tax returns, the CEO of CAMC made nearly $5 million in 2017.
The worker said when employees at CAMC get sick, they are being forced to use their paid time off or simply are not being compensated.
“Some of us are having to use PTO time if we get sick with COVID, while other places are paying workers when they get sick,” the worker said. “It’s just so irresponsible to say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry you caught COVID, but you probably got it from the community—not from work—so we’re not going to pay you, and you have to use your vacation time or go without a paycheck’ It’s incredibly insulting. If it were not for us coming into work every day to take care of those patients, these doors would not be open. We have gotten zero compensation from this from the very beginning.”
Another CAMC worker said the treatment of workers at the hospital is “appalling” and that administrators have blamed frontline workers for being “noncompliant” about wearing protective equipment, despite there being a lack of PPE and screening protocol in the facilities.
“I think nurses and hospital staff have been silenced so, so much,” the worker said. “The way we’re being treated is appalling. And this is their way of covering themselves, by blaming us instead of the fact that they have failed us.”