#50, you know what you're talking about. Crain's, which has done the most factual reporting on the subject, said that St. Vincent's was advised two years ago to try to find a partner but they ignored this advice and, instead, listened to the Rudins who wanted a want to build a big apartment building in Greenwich Village...millions spent on consultants, attorneys etc. and now we're paying the price for years of bad management and big egos.

Union workers are lazy and incompetent.

Very poor "journalism" (stealing from NY 1). The 300 layoffs are the closing of the Neurology and several other Manhattan clinics. Everyone there, including union staff (please note idiots above). This happened with surgery units last month as well.

Westchester is as yet unaffected, with Psych there and in the Boros (except Manhattan psych) SUPPOSED to be sold off to someone else, as that's the only part that makes money. The deal is that they will give psych away for free to some monster chain, in return for them taking on part of the debt.

As a non-union employee, the hospital has been criminally mismanaged. Around 10 years ago they went independent from Sisters of Charity and the board hired a bunch of overpaid fools. The Sisters are no longer involved in any real way, the Archdiocese is not involved AT ALL. They decided they were all corporate and would become a hospital chain. The numbers never added up, but I think the board was ideologically unable to not see themselves as corporate bigwigs, so they just kept thinking they would grow their way out, and blowing money left and right.

They then started outsourcing everything (MIS: we gave all IT staff and hardware to private companies and then rented them back at crazy rates. We still have desktop PCs running Windows 2000). Then they contracted with a number of the incompetent corporate advisers (Webb, et al, who did zilch, paid millions to, and then hired later for even more millions), put a rube in as President (Henry Amoroso) and paid these people millions to take us into bankruptcy, after dithering about it for two years raking up debt. They closed most campuses, sold hospitals for nothing, and came out of bankruptcy still owing $500 mil, including TAKING the debt from the places they sold for nothing!

Their plan: they would tear down the Manhattan campus, build a giant high-rise, and cash in on the booming housing market by renting luxury apartments!

Of course that all died in the 2008 crash, after they poured millions into it and getting $0 out.

They were repeating this to us (staff) in the FALL of 2009: but in JULY, GE financial told the board (according to Crain's recently) to remove the management and prepare for liquidation. A few months earlier, Amoroso, who seems to live to play golf with Bishops and sent us memos every week about the cocktail parties he'd been to, FLEW TO ROME ON OUR DIME to go to a party for some Cardinal.

And at the same time, they were EXPANDING into other areas of Manhattan, trying to expand into different areas and buying real estate.

So six months after being told by their creditors they were doomed, announced they were in trouble, and asking people to take pay cuts, just so they could meet the next payroll and to hire another "turn around expert" for $125 K a month, while still overpaying all the execs who got us into this, with no evidence they're still working.

Meanwhile, we are getting NO NEWS except though the papers.

So A) do your research

B) if you wanna blame unions/immigrants/Obama/socialism for this, you're an idiot

I am amazed how someone can write an "news" article without conducting a bit of research on the subject. Recycling other news agencies stories does not equate to journalism, especially when the title is deliberately misleading and information is in-accurate. Try doing a little research before stealing stories from other news organizations. As a union employee at saint vincents, I can absolutely state that the unions, both 1199 and nysna have been greatly affected by the dire financial situation the hospital is in. Not only have the majority of the layoffs been unions workers, but we have voted to reduce our pay. The percentage may be less than management, but lets face it would not be fair to ask a nursing assistant that makes 30,000/hr to give up 20-25% of their income versus a vice president the makes north of six figures. So before you say again that unions are unaffected, think again-EVERYONE HAS BEEN AFFECTED

I wonder when they lose their trauma center status. Only a matter of time before we can't bring patients there on a 911 ambulance.

Unions are not what they used to be, there are also people that are getting into healthcare that are just in it for the money, these are the people that are presenting the problem because they don't do their job and get protected by the union.

Unfortunately in the catholic system people tend to victimize the already lapse system.

Yes! yes! And the hospital shall continue to go down because union workers are also a large part of the healthcare problem because of their horrible work ethics and plain laziness.

a number of hospitals work with union staff. I'm an RN. I applied and interviewed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and SI. Majority of hospitals had union staff. The majority are not under water.

The administration did a piss poor job investing in the future of the hospital. To provide to the poor you have to cater to the rich, St. Vincent's never truly entered that game.

The community fought the building of a 21st century hospital to protect the aesthetic of the neighborhood. When plans finally went through the real estate bubble had collapsed ruining any chance to fund the project.

The unions create an environment where it is next to impossible to fire anyone. There are great people there, don't get me wrong, but there is a culture within the system that is foul. It pushes away paying patients to world class centers not far away.

Everyone involved is responsible for this downfall, but at the end of the day this is a tragedy. It is a shame that a place with such a long history and deep roots within the community to find itself in this situation. Maybe they'll recover, but it doesn't look likely.

I hate to interrupt this debate about unions but I thought it best to correct the misinformation floating out there in the media about these layoffs. This is actually the only article that rightly says that physicians were layed off - most, including the Times, say that the only physicians layed off are residents - FALSE. I'd also like make known something that NO ONE is reporting and that's that the entire Pediatrics department was essentially layed off. Including physicians and nurses who had been there for many, many years. It's bad PR to let it out that services for KIDS have been cut first so Im sure St Vinny's PR dept have been working overtime. And I'm sure they'll continue to use ages of children in their pr materials though they're not currently providing care for children.

well, it's closing. they are shutting down unit by unit and probably those that cost more and bring in the least go first. kids are not admitted unless they are REALLY sick. It's not as common as, say, elderly or middle aged persons. And thanks to comments from the celebs (who was it, Susan Sarandon?) I'm sure most in that area take their children elsewhere when admitted from clinic to hospital. It sucks, but the hospital is closing. The state just tossed $6mil at 'em that we will not get back. They cut services ... HIV/AIDS clinic was closed (I read, I believe in the Times or Post) and they were diverting ambulances elsewhere. Sure it's not good PR to close peds. They have no good PR right now.

There are a lot of people hurting from this. To blame strictly Unions would be diverting blame. The unions were brought in to protect the staff. I don't personally care for the way they protect those who are not good workers. But, they protect workers from administration... one that would drive itself into $700Mil debt. Not all of that is in the form of "self payers" . It's also in construction gone unpaid for. It's more complex than just looking at union.

the article from the times (linked above) states the HIV clinic is open.

so who's in charge of the administration?

well, it's a catholic hospital... once run by the sisters of charity (I think???). Not entirely sure who runs it now? It's still a catholic hospital so I'm assuming some catholic organization or order. I'm sure there's a board of directors who vote on everything. I'm sure they have their BOD and CEO listed on their website.

thank you. i'm posting them below:



http://www.svcmc.org/body.cfm?id=813

http://www.svcmc.org/body.cfm?id=255

mind sharing who the owner of the hospital is? y'know, the one that everyone (while employed there) was a little scared of, the one behind the umbrella, the one that everyone (while employed there) was a little afraid of questioning and exposing? thanks!

TYPO - I meant "images" in my last sentence, not "ages."

there's ways of pulling in money for the uninsured patients. it just takes more work, more digging.

what was the CFO doing all this time. and, didn't someone mention this was like an almost defacto hospital where ambulances bring the uninsured in because they have some sort of contract? if that is true, then they are getting paid. it's just mismanagement.

hell, I get sent collection letters for a $25 missed co-pay. now how much of that is going to the hospital and how much to the collection agency?

Hah-hah, blame it on the unions.

Just like the MTA- inept management can't balance their books and they still get they huge payroll and benefits...but its all the evil unions fault.

Wonder how much the hospital directors are pulling down???

Have they taken cuts?

Why aren't their accountants held responsible?

Why should we care that an employee who had been there 18 MONTHS gets laid off first?

But blame it on the union, its what corporate America wants you to do.

Unions are like an evil rogue country within the US. At one time, they did some good, especially in regards to employee safety, That was long ago. My parents both belonged to different unions; they put up with a lot of union crap for decades, paying dearly for the privilege of being cheated and more. Strong-arms, bullies, thugs: what part of Jimmy Hoffa don't you understand?