Chutzpah

The classic definition of chutzpah is provided by the man who kills his parents and then pleads for mercy from the sentencing judge on the grounds of being an orphan.

Now, we have a story by Julie Donnelly in the Boston Business Journal about the CEO of a hospital system who bemoans the fact that "any savings from layoffs in the health care industry are constrained by labor agreements that often force hospitals to lay off the youngest, cheapest workers."

Let's recall that it was this CEO who aceded to a neutrality agreement to facilitate the ability of the SEIU to organize his hospital system back in 2009 and who then was responsible for negotiating and approving the collective bargaining agreement with that union.  Such an agreement contains the seniority rules that govern the order in which layoffs occur.  At the time, some of us thought of these as steps along the way to ensure that union's support in front of state officials when the non-profit system's acquisition by a for-profit entity required state approval.

But now, the gentleman pleads for mercy.

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