As a Granite City Alderman and a strong supporter of Gateway Regional Medical Center, I am greatly disappointed that none of the 31 members of their dietary department were hired when the contracted service was changed. As a recent retiree after working for the hospital for over 35 years, I knew many of these workers personally and can vouch for their work ethic as well as their commitment to the patients, physicians and staff they served. I understand that a company may have financial or customer service reasons to change a contracted service but it is difficult to believe that none of these workers, many of whom had worked for the hospital for more than 10 years, suddenly did not have the necessary skills or job knowledge to help the new contracted service. Instead it appears that the intent was to eliminate the union and if that is the case then shame on them. When you are in the business of saving lives you should realize you have an obligation to not disrupt the lives of your dedicated and loyal staff just because you can. I urge the administration to encourage the new contracted service to hire from this group. It is the right thing to do.