152 jobs lost as Straub
hires outside firm

By Peter Wagner
Star-Bulletin

Straub Clinic & Hospital plans to lay off 152 workers, a step the hospital tried to avoid earlier this year when it cut pay by 3 percent because of declining revenues.

But many of the workers -- nonunion maintenance, housekeeping, food service and delivery employees -- could be hired back by a firm hired to perform these services, the hospital said.

Straub on Wednesday told the workers they will be replaced Dec. 1 by Sodexho Marriott Services Inc., the largest food service and facilities management company in the United States.

Dr. Blake E. Waterhouse, chief executive officer at Straub, said the "outsourcing" will free up money to be redirected into medical services.

"Hospitals and medical groups are being forced to reorganize their operations by focusing their resources on what they do best -- providing health care services," Waterhouse said in a written statement yesterday. "Utilizing Sodexho Marriott enables Straub to save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and redirect those monies to patient care and services."

Affected workers will receive severance packages and be directed to the new employer for jobs, Waterhouse said.

"We are encouraging our employees to apply for jobs with Sodexho Marriott and we are assuming that many of them will be retained," he said.

A Sodexho Marriott spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.

The layoffs, about 8 percent of Straub's approximately 2,000 employees, is the latest of several initiatives to cut costs or refine operations this year.

Citing declining revenues, the hospital in April instituted a 3 percent pay cut for all employees, including doctors. Net revenue was down $3.2 million in December and down $2.7 million in the first two months of this year. The pay cut was a temporary measure to avoid layoffs, hospital officials said.

In May, Straub hired Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based Wackenhut Corp. to handle security operations, a move that cut 11 positions. All of the displaced security workers reportedly were rehired by the contractor.

Michelle Jerin Shirai, spokeswoman at Straub, said the latest layoffs are aimed at fine-tuning operations, not offsetting losses.

Sodexho Marriott, a $4 billion company based in Bethesda, Md., has 100,000 employees and manages another 60,000 employees for clients. The company's Hawaii contracts include St. Francis Medical Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Kaiser Permanente.

Straub last year merged with PhyCor Inc., a Nashville, Tenn.-based medical management company.