OGDENSBURG -- The CEO has got to go.

That’s the message protestors sent to Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center’s Board of Directors at a rally protesting recent layoffs at the hospital.

Signs at the protest contained slogans like “Dick Duvall Dropped the Ball” and “Mr. Duvall Your Work Holds No Value.”

Richard Duvall is CEO of Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center. Recently CHMC announced the hospital would be eliminating 5% of its employees.

The release from the hospital blamed the cuts on the revenue cycle, which officials said exposed CHMC to frequent patient complaints about billing errors. Multiple deficiencies were identified and remain unresolved, seriously undermining the hospital’s financial position, the release said.

The release also said that it would be outsourcing the work of the 43 individuals who were terminated.

On Wednesday, the union representing the workers who lost their jobs condemned the hospital's narrative and told a different story.

The former employees were joined by a large crowd and said that they had received praise for the work as recently as May and were told by administrators to stop billing in recent months.

They said they were denied proper training to complete necessary work and were instead subjected to “team building” exercise, which they found demeaning and wasteful.

The union members said the failures at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center were failures of administrators, not the employees being punished.

“They said they provided education. They didn’t provide education. Those billers are certified, they’re certified coders. The ones not educated are the ones that are running the show,” one of the speakers said.

Another speaker who had been employed by the hospital for nearly half a century said she and other coders had worked to unbury the hospital from backlogs created by COVID only to be fired.

“We put our heads down for this facility … and what did we get. I got locked out of this facility after 47 years of dedication to my hometown hospital. If we don’t do something here, no one will,” she said.

Two St. Lawrence County legislators, a representative from Senator Patty Ritchie’s office and Gouverneur Mayor Ron McDougall joined Claxton-Hepburn workers in protest of the layoffs of 43 employees.

Legislator Nicole Terminelli said the hospital's decision to outsource the work was a slap in the face to its employees.

“I’m standing with my brothers and sisters today at CHMC with outrage following the recent reports that 43 people are going to be outsourced due to the hospital’s mismanagement,” she said.

Terminelli said the administrators should be held accountable.

“The failures in Claxton-Hepburn running the revenue collection are not the 1199 members fault, but the failures of the managers who lack the ability and the knowledge to train the members as well as the fault practices that this administration has put into place.”

Legislator Margaret Haggard said she was there to support the 43 workers who lost their job to an out-of-state business.

“It’s obvious that the hospital doesn’t think this is very important,” she said. Haggard added that she was appalled at the press for “blaming the employees” for the mismanagement in sharing the release issued by the hospital.

Haggard said she was disappointed in Duvall and the CHMC administration and called on them to reconsider their decision.

McDougall, a labor leader, said the people who were responsible were inside the hospital and the ones paying the price were the ones protesting.

He said we would work to convince the hospital to reconsider.

Mark Brouilette, a representative from Sen. Ritchie’s office said the Senator also vowed to urge the hospital to reconsider.

The hospital did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the rally.