A month after news broke that Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center would be sold to new owners, the employees – many of whom are Secaucus residents – say little information regarding the sale has been shared with them.
The hospital’s current owner, LibertyHealth – which also owns Jersey City Medical Center – announced last month that it would sell Meadowlands to Newark-based MHA, LLC, a group of investors which has said it plans to keep Meadowlands an acute care hospital.
However, few details about the sale have been publically released. It is believed the sale price will be about $16 million. As required by state law, the sale is currently undergoing a mandatory review by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, which must approve the deal.
“People are very anxious and frustrated.” – JoAnne Dudsak
________
On Jan. 8, the day the sale was announced, executives from LibertyHealth and MHA walked through the halls of the hospital talking to staffers about the change in ownership. Although MHA executives have promised to discuss the sale further with employees, many of them say little information has been shared since then.
Employees fear layoffs
As a matter of course, when a hospital is sold, all of the employees must be terminated by the outgoing owner. The new owner can choose to rehire all, some, or none of the former workers. The new owner also is not bound by any union contracts or other agreements that were in place before the sale.
When LibertyHealth purchased Meadowlands Hospital, the company rehired all of the employees who had already been working there. But the 550 employees at the 230-bed hospital – an estimated 200 of whom live in Secaucus – fear that may not be the case this time around.
“It would be our hope that all of the workers would be rehired at the same wages they currently have. And it would be our hope that they wouldn’t lose any benefits,” said Secaucus native JoAnne Dudsak, president of the local 5147 of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE), the union that represents some 250 Meadowlands employees. “But we don’t know what MHA’s plans are.”
Dudsak, a nurse who has worked at Meadowlands for 24 years, said longtime employees, who have the highest wages, are among those who are most vulnerable, as are members of the housekeeping staff.
When the current HPAE contract was negotiated, Dudsak said, LibertyHealth agreed to give the housekeepers a bump in pay, from $7.35 an hour to $10 an hour. She is concerned the maintenance staff could see their wages drop back down to the old hourly rate.
“People are very anxious and frustrated,” she said. “Once the sale goes through, people will lose any accumulated sick leave. LibertyHealth will pay people for any unused vacation time. But it’s very difficult to plan your life if you don’t know whether you’ll have a job in six months or not.”
Norma Busacco, another Secaucus resident who works at Meadowlands, agreed.
“We’re completely in the dark,” Busacco commented. “We want the sale to be as transparent as possible so the employees can begin to make plans. Will they have a job? If they are rehired, will they be making the same money they get now? Will they be making less? Will they be making a lot less?”
Secaucus reaction
Massive layoffs among hospital personnel could have major ripple effects throughout Secaucus because of the number of residents who work there. On Tuesday the Secaucus Town Council passed a resolution calling on the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services to allow a representative from the town to be given access to the sale approval process.
“The hospital is a major employer in town and the council just wanted to be on the record stating that they would like to see the employees treated fairly,” said Town Administrator David Drumeler last week.
Representatives from LibertyHealth and MHA met with Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli last month after the sale was first announced.
“One of the things I addressed with them is we wouldn’t like to see those people lose their jobs or have a cut in pay,” he said.
Addressing these concerns, MHA spokesman Bill Maer said, “Certainly the organization is evaluating operations, and personnel is a part of that. There is communication with the unions and there will be individual communications with the employees. Right now, though, it’s too early in the transaction to give concrete answers about staffing decisions.”
In limbo
Hospital staff could be in limbo for several months.
The state’s approval of the sale could be delayed because a new governor took the helm in Trenton last month. Gov. Chris Christie has yet to make a number of permanent appointments and that could affect when a decision is made regarding Meadowlands Hospital.
Ordinarily it would take about 90 days for the department to determine whether MHA is fiscally stable enough to purchase and run the hospital. The state will then pull together meetings with MHA officials, Meadowlands staff members, union representatives, and local elected leaders in Secaucus to discuss the sale.
“There will probably also be a public hearing,” said Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, who is also a hospital administrator at Hoboken University Medical Center and a member of the Assembly’s Health and Senior Services Committee. “And at the end of the 90-day period the Deptartment of Health will likely approve a transfer of the license from LibertyHealth to the new buyer.”
One detail of the sale that state health officials might scrutinize is the transfer of the hospital from a private nonprofit entity (LibertyHealth) to a for-profit company (MHA), although this detail would not in itself block the sale, Quigley and others said.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.