NEWBURYPORT — The electrical union protesting Anna Jaques Hospital's hiring process may be keeping a slightly lower profile in the city, but a representative says it hasn't given up its fight.
In recent months, residents accustomed to seeing a 9-foot-tall inflatable rat in Market Square and an airplane dragging an anti-Anna Jaques banner high above the city have been noticing a dramatic reduction in the tactics of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103.
But IBEW Local 103 business manager Louis Antonellis said his union brothers have been in Newburyport on a daily basis, albeit in a more subtle way. Instead of the notorious rat and the fly-overs, union members have been stationed in different parts of the city on different days.
And just last week, the union sent out a direct mailing to Newburyport residents, highlighting its stance.
Since last March, members of IBEW Local 103 have been protesting the Highland Avenue hospital's decision to hire nonunion electrical workers as part of its roughly $15 million renovation project. The massive renovation project, which broke ground last May, will include a new inpatient unit consisting of 18 private rooms; a new, more efficient power plant; and a new outpatient entrance where the current power plant is located.
What started out as union members holding banners directing people to a website that highlighted malpractice payments made by hospital doctors expanded to include fly-overs by a rented plane and the display of a 9-foot-tall inflatable rat balloon.
"Obviously, some things have quieted down," Antonellis said yesterday. "(But) we're going to continue; we're not going to back down."
According to the union, the protests are intended to shed light on the hospital's double standard for hiring a nonunion company that doesn't ensure health care benefits, while at the same time treating patients' health care needs.
Antonellis said his union is considering stepping up its anti-Anna Jaques campaign once the weather turns warmer.
In response to the union's tactics, local businessman Michael Roy and others formed Citizens in Support of Anna Jaques Hospital last summer. The group has staged numerous counterprotests, including marching in the city's annual Yankee Homecoming Parade and standing next to union members holding pro-hospital signs.
Yesterday, Roy called the reduced presence of union members a "wonderful lack of appearance on their part," but he added that he has seen them periodically throughout the winter.
"I've had my fingers crossed that they've said, 'Enough's enough,'" Roy said.
Like IBEW Local 103, Citizens in Support of Anna Jaques Hospital has tamped down its efforts, as well. But Roy said should the union decide to ramp back up, his group would follow suit.
"We'll have to assess week by week and see what happens," Roy said.
Deborah Chiaravalloti, vice president of public relations and marketing for Anna Jaques, said she hasn't seen the union in front of the hospital for weeks.
"Honestly, we don't pay attention to them. We have a lot of things on our plate, very important things," Chiaravalloti said.
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