KALAMAZOO - Borgess Medical Center has not been swayed from its decision to hire a 75 percent nonunion workforce on a $76.9 million renovation project, despite letters of appeal from union members in the community and some significant informational picket action outside its front door.

Borgess is going ahead with one of the largest construction projects in Western Michigan, a three-year job that will include a new parking structure, consolidation of outpatient diagnostic and treatment services, and miscellaneous campus improvements, including converting most semi-private rooms into private rooms. Work began in July.

Union leaders in the Southwest Michigan Building Trades Organizers have had several meetings and have written numerous letters to Borgess, its Board of Trustees and its parent company, Ascension Health, seeking to get more union contractors on the project.

"We're just not making any headway with Borgess," said Michigan Building Trades Council Business Rep. Terry Strunk. "In fact, the letters that they've sent out indicate that they're digging in."

About 65 informational pickets walked in front of the hospital on Feb. 1, and on Feb. 22, there were more than 100 pickets, urging Borgess to adopt a policy of "local jobs for local workers." In addition, an undetermined number of building trade union members responded to an appeal in the Jan. 18 edition of The Building Tradesman, and wrote letters of appeal to Borgess and its parent organization.

On the day the pickets first appeared Feb. 1, an internal letter from Borgess to its employees concludes that the health care organization "stands firm in its commitment to the open market bidding process and will not be pressured to reverse this decision. Not only does this approach allow for the most responsible use of financial resources, it also creates the greatest opportunity for work to be performed by local contractors."

Borgess hired American Village Builders (AVB) of Kalamazoo to manage the project as the general contractor. The firm is hardly a strong union employer, and has set dual union-nonunion gates at the hospital site. Based on the subcontractors listed on the signs at the gate, the project is expected to go about 75 percent nonunion.

This is particularly galling in light of the fact that union building trades workers spent about $2.5 million for medical care at Borgess in 2000, the organizers estimate.

"Borgess may have thought that this is going to be a one-day campaign, but we're not going away," said Southwest Building Trades Organizers President Larry Tolbert of Asbestos Workers Local 47.

If you live in Southwest Michigan, and wish to make known your feelings about Borgess' dim view of union workers, following are two people who can do something about it:

Donald Brennan, President/CEO, Ascension Health Board of Trustees, P.O. Box 45998, 4600 Edmundson Rd., St. Louis, MO 63145.

Randall Stasik, Borgess Health Alliance, 1521 Gull Rd., Kalamazoo, MI 49048.