The petition from the union — called Local 34 — included more than 2,500 signatures. Members presented it to Yale School of Medicine Dean Robert Alpern, MD, and Yale University President Peter Salovey, PhD, earlier this week.
Local 34 members are concerned that 986 of the 1,200 unionized jobs at the medical school will be transferred to Yale-New Haven (Conn.) Hospital, where their positions won’t be overseen by the union. Last June, an article in the New Haven Register claimed the 986 jobs were being transferred. Since then, the union members have grown increasingly worried that Yale-New Haven Hospital is taking over the medical school. Thus, they are requesting Yale University make a written promise to protect the jobs.
However, university affiliates have denied that the jobs are in jeopardy. Yale University spokesman Tom Conroy said the concerns are rooted in “rumors.” Last June, Dr. Alpern and Yale Medical Group CEO Paul Taheri, MD, sent an email to staff members assuring them their jobs were safe. “While we do not typically respond to every rumor, we felt that we needed to counteract groundless assertions with the facts. There is no need to worry,” the email read. “There is no plan to move 986 of our clinical jobs over to the hospital, and there never has been.”
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