Around the Regions

Hudson Valley Members Win Raises up to 15% at Nuvance Health

After more than a year of tense negotiations with Nuvance Health —an out-of-state healthcare corporation with little affinity with or investment in the Hudson Valley communities it serves—2,500 members finally ratified a contract in late April.

The contract added three new bargaining units to the former collective agreement that previously covered only technical and service workers at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie and Putnam Hospital in Carmel, New York. The new members, who joined 1199 in the past two years are technical workers at Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck and biomedical engineers and radiation therapists at Vassar and Putnam.

The employer’s constant stalling forced the members to hold several informational pickets, join with concerned elected officials and patients at press conferences, hold car caravans to inform the public and contact Board members, and demand dozens of meetings with management (away from the negotiating table.)

“(The health benefits) will dramatically improve our lives and will also attract and retain staff, something that is desperately needed.” – Dan Duffy, radiation therapist at Vassar

1199 Expands Membership in Upstate New York

Sixty-two new 1199 members at Claxton Hepburn Hospital in Ogdensburg, New York, were celebrated their decision to join the Union on May 2nd. The respiratory, radiology and medical lab workers, including Phlebotomists, Ultrasound Technologists, Respiratory Therapists, MRI Technologists, and others will join the 200 existing 1199SEIU members at the hospital.

Jodi Lachenauer, is a Senior Pathology Specimen Processor, who has worked at the hospital located in the North Country for more than ten years. She said: "I voted for fairness. During COVID we processed every test and went unnoticed and unappreciated. Now, with our union we will have a voice on the job and the raises we deserve."

Claxton Hepburn members celebrate organizing victory.

Ashley Gonzalez, a Radiologic Technologist, added: "I see my future here at Claxton Hepburn Medical Center. Now that we have our union, we are excited for what is to come. My family relies on this hospital and all of the people here.

Trans HealthEquity Win

Members in Maryland joined their newlyelected Governor, Wes Moore, in Annapolis on May 5th when he signed the Trans Health Equity Act that they helped to pass. The law requires Medicaid to cover the costs of medically necessary gender-affirming care for lowincome transgender residents.

L to R: Brige Dumais, 1199SEIU political coordinator, (left) with 1199 members Rachel Smith and Daniel Mendoza at the Trans Day of Visibility in Washington, DC.

“My late brother was transgender,” said, Joyce Jackson, an 1199er at Whitman Walker Health who attended the signing ceremony. “Back in the 70’s, he did not have access to gender affirming care at all. This is one of the reasons I fight so fiercely on behalf of my transgender patients and the entire community of low income transgender people in Maryland.”

Claudia Martinez,her coworker added: “Access to gender affirming healthcare is life changing for the better. Too many trans people end up dead when we are not living our authentic life as the gender we truly are.”

Time to Tax Corporate Greed

1199ers rallied in Albany on May 30th to press for the passage of “Reinvest in NY Healthcare Act”. New York's health insurance marketplace is increasingly dominated by health insurance companies based outside of the state.

While many New Yorkers faced a dramatic economic crisis and frontline healthcare providers were scrambling to provide care to gravely ill patients, these

same companies posted record pandemic profits. The companies then transferred their enormous profits to their parent companies in Indiana (Anthem), Minnesota (UnitedHealthcare), and Connecticut (Aetna). Just last year, New York's top ten insurers made more than $40 billion in profits.

Lisa Baker Morrow, a member at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh, NY, said: “The Reinvest in New York Healthcare Act is a way to start

to address our frayed healthcare system. I believe that taxing outof-state insurance profits is a necessary and important step that we must take if we are to create a fair and equitable tax system.”

The legislation will create a 9.63 percent tax on any profit transferred out of state by health insurance companies operating in New York. The tax will provide a new and much-needed revenue source for financially distressed hospitals across the state.

Lisa Baker Morrow speaks at press conference.