The union hires a mobile billboard for in-your-face messaging at a Beaumont site in western Wayne County.
(Photo: SEIU Healthcare Michigan)
At a Wednesday afternoon rally outside Beaumont Hopsital in Wayne, employees there and from nearby affiliates in Trenton and Taylor will show how they feel about the company's top executive.
Nursing assistants, emergency room technicians, pharmacy aides, patient transporters and clerks are expected to participate, according to their union.
Beaumont employees outside their workplace.
(Photo: Union)
Detroit Free Press reporter Anna Bauman gives a preview and background:
Healthcare workers at three Beaumont hospitals are outraged by top executive’s swelling salaries in light of their struggle for better wages, more affordable health care and stronger staffing. . . .
Caregivers . . . will rally July 17 after discovering that Beaumont Health CEO John Fox’s compensation increased 82%, to more than $5.6 million, in 2017, according to a news release from SEIU Healthcare, Michigan’s largest healthcare union.
The company’s profits last year totaled $142 million and a "long list" of other Beaumont executives saw significant increases and over $1 million in compensation for 2017, according to the release.
John T. Fox earned over $5.6 million in 2017 salary and benefits, a healthcare union says. (Photo: Beaumont Health System video)
The paper quotes a union media release that says: "A small group of Beaumont executives at the top are getting extremely rich while patient care standards are being compromised."
"Beaumont executives are making millions while the actual caregivers are struggling to just make ends meet," the union quotes certified nursing assistant Mike Graham as saying.
Fox, a 67-year-old Bloomfield Hills resident, joined Beaumont in 2015 after 16 years as president and chief executive officer of Emery Healthcare in Atlanta.
The hospital network, based in Royal Oak, also is the target of another union's recruiting push. The Michigan Nurses Association last week filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, saying Beaumont Health System "policies . . . interfere with, restrain and coerce employees" who support its organizing efforts.
(Photo: SEIU Healthcare Michigan)
In response to salary criticisms by SEIU Healthcare Michigan, based in Detroit, Beaumont issues a four-paragraph statement published by the Freep. Excerpts:
Beaumont believes John Fox’s compensation as president and CEO is reasonable, based on a rigorous methodology including a review of market data, assessment of job responsibilities and evaluation of qualifications.
The Beaumont Health Board’s Organization and Compensation Committee reviews and approves executive compensation recommendations for executives with the assistance of an external, independent compensation consultant. . . . We must provide compensation and benefits that are reasonable and competitive with what employers in health care and other sectors provide.
-- Alan Stamm
