Forum Health asks a bankruptcy judge to toss out two union contracts. The health care provider is asking the judge to throw out a deal just reached with the nurses union at Northside Hospital. The other is an existing contract with service workers at Northside.
Forum CEO Buzz Pishkur did not believe the company could exit bankruptcy because of the terms in the nurses contract. This week, the health care provider's lenders objected to giving Forum more time to file a reorganization plan.
The nurses union at Northside just ratified a new concessionary contract. Nurses union President Eric Williams says he's kind of confused. If there were problems, he says, why weren't those issues raised at the table. "We expected them to put forth a good faith effort, and I'm not sure if they did that or not."
Forum CEO Buzz Pishkur said in a statement that it was not in Forum's best interest to move forward with the agreement. "We have decided to let the courts intervene." The statement did not say what Forum would be asking of the court, or to what extent the contracts would be changed.
Pishkur did say that Forum was still able to communicate with the unions, and that agreements with the unions are an integral component in the long term viability of Forum Health.
