CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Workers at dozens of Chicago area nursing homes have announced plans to strike.
Members of SEIU Healthcare of Illinois have been demanding pay increases and hazard pay, improved staffing and more equipment to help protect them from COVID-19.
"These jobs were always difficult and backbreaking work that not everyone could do," Shaba Andrich, Vice President of Nursing Homes for SEIU Healthcare said. "Now, these jobs are dangerous, too."
Negotiations between the union, which represents more than 10,000 workers at 100 nursing homes, and the Illinois Association of Healthcare Facilities have been ongoing. The current contract expires at the end of April.
The strike begins 6 a.m. Friday May 8, Andrich said.
"That gives nursing home owners a little over 10 days to finally do what's right and take responsibility for what's going on."
Nursing home officials have called their offers of one-year pay hikes and paid sick leave "fair and equitable."
