Date: Fri 03-Nov-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

FHH-layoffs-union

Full Text:

Layoff Notices Catch FHH Workers By Surprise

In rounds of job cuts during the past week, the state has issued layoff

notices to about 430 workers at Fairfield Hills Hospital, the state

psychiatric institution which is scheduled to close by January 1.

The layoffs are slated to occur between now and Deecember 15.

Some of the workers are expected to get other state jobs, but it remains

unclear how many employees will be able to do so.

The most recent cuts bring to approximately 485 the number of people receiving

pink slips at the hospital.

On Tuesday, 300 Fairfield Hills workers were told they are being let go. On

October 26, the state told about 130 workers there they will be laid off.

The layoffs come in anticipation of the merger of the three state mental

hospitals at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.

The wave of state hospital layoffs which came October 26 caught union leaders

by surprise. They said they had expected the job cuts to be spread out over

two years.

"They are fast-pacing it," said Steven Perruccio, president of the Connecticut

Employees Union Independent, which represents employees including maintenance

and custodial workers. "This is much faster than the legislature or the budget

reflected," he said.

Under the consolidation plan, Fairfield Hills is expected to close January 1,

and Norwich Hospital by September or October 1996. The governor included the

plan as part of his budget proposal and said it will save the state $2.3

million this fiscal year and $8.4 million the next year.

"There will still be dedicated employees providing services, but by

consolidating we have greater efficiencies," according to Nuala Forde, a

sokesman for the governor. "This is about getting more bang for the dollar and

we're confident this will result in better services," she said.

Union officials argued, however, that the speed of the layoffs will compromise

client care at the hospitals.

"Our clients deal with the most fragile, vulnerable people in the state," said

Paul Kumar, an organizer for the New England Health Care Employees Union,

District 1199. "But this shows the lobby for people with mental illness

doesn't have the money, the resources or the voice of people who want to build

a casino."

In a recent letter to the editor of The Bee, Carole N. Brown, a psychiatric

nurse supervisor at Fairfield Hills, wrote that the closure of Fairfield Hills

will be detrimental to the health and well-being of the patients now housed

there.

"It is our concern that people will fall by the wayside and get lost in an

already overburdened mental health system, depriving them of the quality care

provided at our facility," she wrote. "We are stating, that as citizens and

taxpyers ofone of the richest states in the union, it is a shame to allow our

lawmakers to sacrifice (patients) for the almighty dollar," she added.

Ms Brown wrote on behalf of psuychiatric nurses at the hospital.

(Associated Press reports were used in this story)