Employees of the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in Sitka have threatened to organize, following a recent rollback of their benefits.
Over 150 staff members – including doctors, nurses, and technicians – signed a letter on February 15 protesting unilateral changes to SEARHC’s paid leave policy. The conflict is flaring just days after the organization, which serves communities around Southeast Alaska, announced it was increasing base pay for employees earning less than $25 an hour.
The February 15 letter, addressed to SEARHC administration, was prompted by changes the healthcare nonprofit made to its leave policy that resulted in reduced paid time off (PTO) for most employees. In an email to staff on February 5, SEARHC said that the new system would “allow us to better support new hires, ensuring equitable PTO distribution across our team.” A narrow subset of employees, Tier 1 employees hired in the past three years, saw a slight increase in PTO under the new policy, from six hours to eight hours of leave per pay period.
Although the changes varied based on role and years with the organization, some employees lost about a third of their total paid time off.
Primary care physician Bob Hunter, who signed the letter, has worked as a doctor in Sitka since 1980. Under the new policy, he lost more than three weeks of annual leave.
“My initial concern was that I found out one day that I was having three weeks of my personal leave cut for each year,” Hunter said. “My other concern, though, is about younger employees, new hires, and other workers at SEARHC and the effect that PTO changes are having on them.”
One technician, who also signed the letter and asked to remain anonymous, has worked for SEARHC for more than a decade. He lost more than two weeks of leave under the new policy, and he says it’s not just about vacation.
“Say we get COVID and need to take extended sick leave, or the days when you would take time to go subsistence fishing or hunting or anything like that,” he said.
In their letter to SEARHC administration, employees called the reduction a “breach of trust.” The letter also indicated that the group was prepared to unionize if needed, writing, “we are prepared to organize and act collectively to ensure our working conditions reflect the respect and integrity we deserve.” If the group does decide to unionize, they will be joining a growing trend among health care workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 13 percent of healthcare workers were represented by unions in 2023.
The change in SEARHC’s leave policy came at about the same time that the organization publicly announced it was raising its minimum pay. In a February 7 public announcement, SEARHC said, “As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the overall compensation structure, SEARHC is proud to announce a new $25/hour minimum salary for all direct-hire employees.” It went on to state that the pay increase was part of a strategic goal to “become the employer of choice.”
That message may not land with existing staff. SEARHC’s top executives draw huge pay: based on IRS documents, CEO Chuck Clement alone earned $2.4 million in 2022, about one-and-a-half million more than the next-highest salaried administrator.
Dr. Hunter said that he and other letter-signers met with SEARHC leadership after sending their letter, and that his personal concerns have been addressed – but he’s still concerned for other employees.
“I still have concerns about the effect on people who’ve been here a couple of years, people that hope to stay and have a long career here, and previously had expectations to have more PTO than they’re going to have,” Hunter said.
The technician who lost over two weeks of leave says he sees the new policy as part of a pattern of decisions from SEARHC that have negatively affected employees.
“Being able to donate leave to coworkers if they have a crisis where they no longer have the annual leave to cover them, you used to be able to do that rather than them needing to use leave without pay,” he said. “SEARHC also used to have a daycare that was primarily used by employees and then also the community itself after that.”
Hunter said he hopes for better communication with SEARHC moving forward – for the sake of employees and patients.
“I’m hoping for better communication between the employees and the administration,” Hunter said. “And that we have more input when decisions are made that affect us — and affect our patients, which is really what it’s all about.”
In response to a request for comment from KCAW, SEARHC representative Lyndsey Schaefer wrote, “To better ensure and support a fair and equitable PTO accrual schedule across all positions, SEARHC recently updated the Paid Time Off policy. This update considers the market dynamics, including the cost of living for Southeast Alaska, as well as insights and feedback from our existing employees.”
