By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The Massena Memorial Hospital nurses union chief is skeptical that privatization will help the institute’s financial situation and the larger CSEA has issued a statement blasting MMH for seeking non-profit status. Meanwhile, the town supervisor has come out in favor of a nonprofit MMH and says he wants to see a vote sooner than later. Also, a state senator who represents Massena is not commenting on the matter.

On Friday afternoon, MMH released a statement saying they would renew their push for the Town Council to approve a transition from a municipal entity to a private, nonprofit institute.

The MMH Board of Managers under then-CEO Charles Fahd voted in March 2014 to recommend the town board allow MMH to privatize. This was amid monthly losses routinely of over $100,000. They broke even at the end of 2014 due to a federal grant that covered their $4 million state pension payment. In 2015 under Wollebin, MMH has been in the black for most of the year, by less than $100,000 most months.

Nurses Union Chief Skeptical, Surprised

Kathy Thomas, president of the New York State Nurses Association, says although MMH CEO Robert Wollebin has said there will be no job cuts associated with a shift to a private hospital, it could still happen.

“I don’t think there’s any guarantee. They are looking to affiliate with another facility at a higher level. There’s potential of … an affiliation of a larger system and Mr. Wolleben said he wants to commit to keeping the present services but there’s no guarantee when you have a larger facility … that they won bring in their own staff,” Thomas said, adding that she does not believe a transition to the private sector would be good for union members she represents.

She noted that MMH employees have taken measures over the last year to keep costs down, including agreeing in 2014 to a three-year wage freeze and switching to cheaper health insurance plans. Union officials have said this could save millions.

“In a way I guess I was a little surprised because everybody’s been working so hard to cut costs and we’ve been in the black,” Thomas said. “Both unions are continuing with our pay freezes. We’re working on a new health insurance plan so I guess I was surprised to hear they want to move forward so quickly.”

Wolleben has addressed the possibility of helping employees close to retirement get the maximum from the state pension system to which they are entitled, pending union negotiations.

Thomas says this too isn’t set in stone.

“It is going to affect our pension. To some people it’s going to be a huge impact because as we plan for our future this is a pension that we had panned for and now as some people are approaching that age, all of a sudden it isn’t going to be way they thought it would be,” she said.

Although she hasn’t talked to all of her members, she says the climate among the few she has is “not good” given Friday’s announcement.

She isn’t ruling out the potential of the unions fighting back against privatization.

“I’ll have to set up membership meetings and discuss what we can, if anything and decide whether to make this a smooth transition or try to keep our municipal status,” according to Thomas.

CSEA Blasts MMH Board

Shortly after MMH’s decision went public, the larger CSEA of which MMH’s chapter is affiliated voiced outrage.

“This is a thinly-disguised attempt by the hospital board and administration to play politics with the hospital’s ownership and push through a privatization plan that they know doesn’t have complete public support, while they think they still have enough support on the Town Council to ram it through,” CSEA Central Region President Colleen Wheaton said in a prepared statement.

The news release says the MMH board’s decision “is also in direct opposition to the recommendations of the 2015 study by Newpoint Healthcare Advisors which advised against selling or privatizing the hospital.”

The Town Council spent $50,000 to hire Newpoint and recommend a course of action to keep MMH viable. The study recommended MMH pursue affiliations with other healthcare institutes, but Wollebin said Friday afternoon that move isn’t possible as a municipal entity.

“One of the strong recommendations there was critical access. I don’t believe as one member of the Town Council critical access is the direction we should head in, that will meet the healthcare needs of the Massena community,” Massena Town Supervisor Joseph Gray said.

Read more about the Newpoint report here.

“The timing of the announcement also makes no sense, given the fact that the hospital’s workers are continuing to work hard to come up with cost-savings. The union members already voted to voluntarily freeze their wages for three years to help the hospital get on more sound financial footing, and the union and management continue to discuss a potential switch in health insurance carriers that is projected to save up to a million dollars a year if fully implemented,” Wheaton said.

Town Supervisor Supports Privatization

Town Supervisor Joseph Gray says he is in favor of a non-profit MMH and wants to see the Town Council vote sooner than later.

“I’ve made it clear for some time that I support a non-for-profit hospital. I think it’s key, Gray said, adding that he would vote in favor of allowing MMH to privatize if the board were to decide today.

He says he is still gauging where the remainder of the board stands, but some are ready to decide.

“I’ll have to talk to all the members of the council. I think there are a couple members ready to vote tomorrow. There are members who wanted more information. I think this week has provided more of that information for them. Hopefully they will be ready to make a decision before too long,” Gray said.

Gray says Wollebin told him part of the rationale for going nonprofit is to preserve services and possibly add jobs.

“He said to me ‘we can limp along and made due at a public hospital or go the nonprofit route and think about expansion, adding services and maybe adding jobs,’” Gray said.

The town supervisor said he had a talk with an MMH employee on Friday who had just heard the news and the person said they were happy to hear their job was safe.

“We talked about emotions, pensions, a lot of different things,” Gray said. “He said to me ‘I heard that I still had a job and will have a job going forward.’”

Regardless of when the council decides, there will be six months to a year before privatization goes through, Gray said.

“My main focus continues to be the long-term viability of MMH,” he said. “We’re going to preserve jobs, we’re going to … do what we can to preserve pensions to the extent possible.”

Sen. Griffo Mum

A public relations official with Sen. Joe Griffo’s office says the senator will not give a statement on the MMH decision.

“The Senator is unavailable today, and we don't have any official statement that we will be putting out on this matter,” according to Rocco LaDuca, Griffo’s director of communications.

Griffo, a Republican from Rome, represents the 47th Senate District. It includes a north-south swath through the center of St. Lawrence County from Massena to the Adirondack Park.

Read more here including comments from Wollebin, the local CSEA president and Assemblywoman Addie Russell.