HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC Radio) - Over 400 nursing home workers across five facilities in the Hartford area are planning to go on strike on April 22 to demand higher minimum wages, fair pension plans, affordable healthcare and measures to address workplace discrimination.
Starting at 6 a.m. that Friday morning, workers will go on an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike at Avery Heights Senior Living, Windsor Health and Rehabilitation Center, and three facilities owned by National Health Care Associates: Bloomfield Health Care Center, Hebrew Center for Health & Rehabilitation, and Maple View Health and Rehabilitation Center.
According to Jesse Martin, a Vice President with SEIU 1199NE, home care providers have been working under poor conditions, unfair labor practices and expired contracts across the facilities.
“We’ve been told for two years that we’re essential, yet I still can’t pay my bills or afford healthcare with the low wages I’m being paid,” Nadine Lawrence, a certified nursing assistant (CNA) at Bloomfield Health Care Center, said.
Many of these workers, Martin said, have received poverty-level wages, have gone weeks without pay and have worked 16-hours a day for weeks on end.
“I have cared for residents at Windsor Rehabilitation for 21 years, yet I don't even make $20.00 an hour,” Yvonne Foster, a CNA at Windsor Rehabilitation, said, “I don't have a retirement account or health insurance that I can afford, and there is no room for growth at my facility. I stand together with my co-workers to strike.”
Martin explained that there have also been alleged violations of federal labor laws, including over 10 alleged violations at the facilities owned by National Health Associates.
The violations, he said, stem from "surveilling union activity to threatening workers with their jobs if they participated in union activities to bringing in unlicensed workers to care for residents without negotiating with the union."
Under an executive order during the pandemic that is still in place, facilities are able to take on unlicensed staff, but Martin explained that the treatment of these hires goes "beyond the scope" of that executive order.
There was also an alleged instance at Windsor Rehab, he said, where the employer required the new unlicensed staff members to work without pay for two to three weeks in exchange for the employer possibly having them take the CNA licensure.
"These people are working full-time hard jobs--the second most dangerous job in the United States--without receiving an hourly wage. To me, that's slavery. That should be wrong. It is wrong," Martin said.
There was overwhelming support for the strike when it came to a vote, Martin said. Over 97% of union members voted to authorize the strike.
Workers are demanding a $20/hour minimum wage for CNA's, increases in retirement and pension contributions, and affordable health insurance and benefits.
They're also looking for employers to recognize Juneteenth since union members are predominantly Black and brown working class women, Martin said, as well as language in the contract that will protect workers from systemic racism on the job and in their communities.
Contract negotiations are currently underway across the facilities. Martin called the strike a last resort in hopes that a resolution is found before April 22, but he stressed that the workers are in need of the pay, benefits and union representation they deserve.