Workers at 33 nursing homes threaten to strike starting May 14
A long-threatened strike by nursing home workers is set to become a reality on May 14 if their demands aren”™t met.
SEIU District 1199 New England, the largest health care workers”™ union in Connecticut, has sent notifications to 33 nursing homes around the state that approximately 3,400 workers will go on strike if improvements are not made in wages, benefits and staff-to-patient ratios.
The union maintains that workers at 51 nursing homes have remained on the job so far despite their contracts having expired on March 15.
The affected facilities are owned by Genesis Healthcare (which includes operations in Danbury and Trumbull); RegalCare (Greenwich, Norwalk and Southport); Autumn Lake Healthcare (Norwalk), and iCare Health Network.
Affected workers include registered and licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants, receptionists, dietary aides and housekeeping and laundry staff.
SEIU District 1199 President Rob Baril said that additional nursing homes are expected to join in the work stoppage as strike votes continue across other facilities.
“Connecticut”™s long-term care system relies on poverty wages,” he said in a statement. “By going on strike we are telling nursing home operators and the state of Connecticut that we are not willing to carry the yoke of poverty any longer. It”™s time for nursing home bosses and state leaders to pay these workers what they deserve.
“Nursing home workers are more united than ever,” Baril said. “Caring for others and for each other during Covid-19 has opened people”™s eyes. We know that our work is too important to keep us in poverty.
“We deserve to make a living wage. We are human beings,” he said. “And the people receiving care in nursing homes should be confident that staff is well paid and that there is sufficient staff to look out for them.”
The Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, which is composed of 150 skilled nursing facilities and assisted living communities, maintains that its members have been hit particularly hard financially due to Covid-19, and has expressed hopes that a compromise can be worked out.