New York Times - November 15, 2002
Personal Ties Are at Issue in Hospitals' Labor Talks By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
ew York University Hospitals Center has barred its president from participating in strategy sessions or talks involving the hospital's largest union because of her personal relationship with the head of the union, a hospital official said yesterday.
Michael Chapman, the hospitals' spokesman, said he would not characterize the relationship between Theresa A. Bischoff, the hospitals' president since 1998, and Dennis Rivera, the president of 1199/S.E.I.U., New York's giant health care union.
The decision to bar Ms. Bischoff from participating in talks involving the union comes at a time when the union and hospitals are locked in a bitter battle over efforts to unionize nearly 400 clerical workers.
Mr. Chapman said the hospitals' leadership asked Ms. Bischoff to withdraw from any talks or strategy sessions involving the union as soon as it received notice that 1199 wanted to organize clerical workers at the hospitals. He said that the hospitals "recognized there might be a potential conflict of interest on this issue."
He also said that key members of the hospitals' board of trustees were notified of the conflict.
Mr. Rivera's union represents 35 percent of the hospitals' 4,510 employees. The clerical workers, who would add an additional 8 percent, voted 185 to 164 against joining the union on Oct. 30. But the union has said that it would go to court, if necessary, to contest the election.
Mr. Chapman said Ms. Bischoff had no comment on her relationship with Mr. Rivera. A spokesman for Mr. Rivera also declined to discuss the matter. "If you're asking anything about Dennis and his personal life on the record," said the spokesman, Ken Sunshine, "we are not going to answer, and I'm shocked that you're asking."
The relationship between the union boss and the hospital executive could be covered by federal labor laws written long before the rise of two-career couples, labor law experts said.
"This is a challenging situation," said Philip Miscimarra, a labor lawyer who is a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, "because there's a federal law which prohibits any employer from giving anything of value directly or indirectly to union representatives."
Known as the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, it and the related parts of the Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959 were aimed at battling the corruption of that era. "I do not believe Congress in the 1940's and 1950's were thinking of romantic relationships when these laws were passed," Mr. Miscimarra said.
Labor experts mentioned other thorny issues as well. Dr. Peter Capelli, a professor at Wharton, said that current and prospective union members might be entitled to know about the relationship before important votes because of Mr. Rivera's "legal and fiduciary responsibilities" to them.
"You might say this is my private life, the heck with it, except there's all these legal issues underneath," he said. "There's a practical question whether you could keep it separate."
The League of Voluntary Hospitals, an industry association, handles much of the labor negotiations for N.Y.U. Hospitals Center.
But even if Ms. Bischoff steps aside from other dealings involving the union, said Dr. Leo Troy, an economics professor at Rutgers University, people handling the matter still work for her. This "could impair the ability of the hospital to deal at arm's length with the union," he said.
Mr. Chapman, the N.Y.U. spokesman, said that even though Ms. Bischoff formally withdraws from any talks, she supported management in the recent fight over unionizing the clerical workers. "Once the leadership decided we were not in favor of unionization of these 380 hospital workers, Ms. Bischoff supported that decision and made no secret about it," he said.