More than 8,000 unionized nursing home employees in New York City and on Long Island have given the OK for a possible strike, as contract talks continue.
Workers represented by 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the city's largest healthcare union, voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike if the union's bargaining team is unable to reach a settlement with operators of 37 for-profit nursing homes.
Negotiations were cut short because of the winter storm that closed many businesses this week in the Northeast, a union spokeswoman said. So nursing home owners have asked for a week to review and respond to the union's latest proposal.
If union members aren't satisfied with the owners' response Monday, they may decide to call for a strike, a spokeswoman said. Owners will be given a minimum of 10 days' notice before a strike occurs.
Member concerns center on what they see as a lack of continuity of care as nursing homes rely more on temporary workers, while permanent worker pay is decreasing and healthcare benefits are being reduced.
“It is generally the front-line workers, in this case, nurses' aides, who will notice any minor change in a residents' well-being,” said Pearl Granat, associate director of the union's nursing home division. “When you have temporary workers that are working with people who don't know them, it's bad for care.”
The union is bargaining with several industry groups that represent the few hundred nursing homes in downstate New York, as well as some independent facilities. Officials from two of the groups, as well as some of the nursing homes, did not return requests for comment. 1199 SEIU is asking for a four-year contract with terms similar to those that have been agreed upon with some other nursing homes in the region, Granat said. Owners of the nursing homes still at the table have “made references” to a two-year contract, she said.
“In terms of looking at a four-year contract, they proposed cuts to benefits,” Granat said. “We're not willing, in any shape or form, to take cuts that would impact our benefit-pension funds and make the benefits insecure.”
Certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, physical therapy assistants, housekeepers, dietary workers and maintenance employees would all be included if a strike is called.
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