MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Laborers International Union of North America has apparently removed the executive officers and board members of Laborers Local 814, which represents union workers at WVU Medicine’s Ruby Memorial Hospital.
In an email exchange, WVU Medicine spokeswoman Angela Knopf said, “We learned of this today via an internal email communication from our HR department.”
The Dominion Post called the local office for confirmation, but the person who answered the phone declined to comment.
The union’s communications spokeswoman directed The Dominion Post to send questions via email but did not reply by the time the office closed. A follow-up email was sent and a voicemail left stating answers are sought for Thursday.
The union represents more than 900 employees.
Knopf said it represents employees in environmental services, dietary, transport, sterile processing, materials and laundry, support associates, and clinical associates. Except for some laundry team who work offsite, they work almost entirely at the hospital.
Knopf said that the changes at the Local 814 office have not affected hospital operations.
Local 814’s Facebook page shows that workers are preparing for upcoming contract negotiations. So far, 490 workers have completed an online survey naming their most important issues, with the top three so far being hourly pay rates, health insurance and paid days off. They are hoping to get 980 surveys filled out.
According to the union’s Facebook page, international union representatives visited the union office earlier this month.
“All members are encouraged to stop in and talk to them, ask questions and discuss our future contract negotiations,” the post said.