GREEN RIVER — Castle Rock Hospital District (CRHD) CEO Bailie Dockter announced in a press release Monday that CRHD received notification from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that the petition for a union election has been withdrawn.
“As the employer in the situation, we are obviously happy with this decision,” Dockter states in the press release.
Castle Rock Hospital District previously confirmed on August 16 that a unit of employees in the Castle Rock Ambulance Service had been seeking to unionize. The petition for a union election was filed August 7 with the NLRB, and on August 16, the CRHD Board filed a position statement with the NLRB that challenged the attempt to unionize. The position statement said that the NLRB has no jurisdiction over Castle Rock due to the District being an ‘exempt political subdivision’.
According to the press release from Dockter, “when the union filed their petition with the NLRB, we had a lot of calls from staff stating they would not support it. These staff were under the impression that the union had reached a select few and made false promises to get them to engage in conversations.”
The press release can be read in full below.
Castle Rock Hospital District received notification from the National Labor Relations Board that the petition for a union election has been withdrawn. As the employer in the situation, we are obviously happy with this decision.
Our concern with the potential of a union was what kind of impact it would have on our patients, employees, their families and our community.
CRHD has always done the very best that it can for its staff, and no union could change that. State and National wage surveys are completed on an annual basis to ensure staff are paid fairly. Castle Rock Ambulance Service staff are paid in the 90th percentile compared to others across the state and country. Over $300,000 in bonuses (through federal grants and stipends) have been paid directly to the Ambulance staff this year. The District has premier health insurance because CRHD is allowed to be a part of the Wyoming Educator Benefit Trust, which helps ensure employees have good quality health insurance at low cost.
That said, we know it is always a challenge recruiting and retaining critical staff such as EMS. We spend time meeting with and listening to staff and will continue to do so. Inevitably, we will not be able to offer everything everyone wants all the time. However, since November, the turnover rate at Castle Rock Ambulance Service has essentially evaporated (to 2.1%), and we have recruited 23% more staff to join the service following the merger of the Green River and Rock Springs services. The front-line workers for Castle Rock Ambulance Service are top notch, and we are retaining the very best. There are more people working in EMS in Sweetwater County today than there have been in years, maybe ever.
When the union filed their petition with the NLRB, we had a lot of calls from staff stating they would not support it. These staff were under the impression that the union had reached a select few and made false promises to get them to engage in conversations. We are encouraged that the vast majority of our staff trust us as an employer and were willing to come out and say they had our backs.
The major challenges in our community are that we have I-80 running right through the middle and geographically we are a very large County. A high proportion of ambulance patients are self-pay or under-insured (Medicaid). Because of that, The District wrote off nearly $1 million in bad debt last fiscal year. It’s the nature of doing business as a 911 service. We treat every patient regardless of their ability to pay – whether it is a quick trip to MHSC or a long transport to Utah. This is not possible without the assistance of Sweetwater County through our Commissioners’ willingness to financially support the ambulance service.
As difficult as the last two weeks have been since the petition was filed, we are grateful for the valuable lessons we’ve learned and for the end of the NLRB union case.
For anyone in the community interested in learning more about Castle Rock Hospital District, our board meetings are held the 4th Tuesday of every month at 5 p.m. We encourage anyone to attend.
