4 Children’s Book Review Instilling Union values at a young age.
5 The President’s Column Take No Vote for Granted.
6 Around the Regions Thousands of new members join 1199; Massachusetts Law Guarantees Investment; JJ Velazquez: Cleared at Last; 1199ers meet Kamala Harris; Celebrating Worker Power; Gearing up to Vote.
9 Cultural Expression Rewarded 1199 troupe recognized in annual West Indian Day Parade.
12 Work We Do Florida members celebrate strong contract victory.
15 Strikes Averted Members in Upstate NY and Florida reach eleventh-hour deals after winning strike votes.
16 Birth Equity How members in the Bronx are ensuring better outcomes for mothers and babies.
18 Protecting the Future Members from all 1199 regions are working hard to ensure that worker champions win in November.
22 Expanding Voting Rights 1199 has fought to expand access to the ballot box throughout its history.
@1199seiu www.1199seiu.org
Cover: Claire Leon, a Delegate and OR Tech at Franklin Hospital Medical Center, in Valley Stream, at an 1199 Haitian solidarity rally in Long Island, NY.
Editorial: Let’s Be Better
As Union members we know that improving the lives of working people is better for everyone.
Ever since Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were suddenly thrust centerstage with just over three months to go before the election, voters have been striving to form firm opinions ahead of decision time on November 5.
We already know what their opponents stand for.
They want us to believe that government is inherently corrupt, and since the game is rigged anyway, it’s fine to take what you can and look after your own. The other side has no qualms about saying whatever sounds appealing, even if it’s a barefaced lie.
The truth is a lot more complicated. Crafting laws that change people’s lives and painstakingly allocating funds to the areas where they are needed most is tedious and often thankless work.
It’s also a tougher sell. As former president Barack Obama warned at the Democratic Convention back in August, this will be a tight race in a closely divided country. A country where too many Americans are still struggling, where a lot of Americans don’t believe that government can help.
As Union members, we know different. We know that the amount of money that government decides to put into national programs like Medicare and Medicaid has a direct effect on what we can negotiate for our own paychecks. If the extremist Republicans take control of the White House and Congress, the very existence of these programs will be under threat.
That’s why, up and down the country, from the Canadian border right down to the south of Florida, 1199ers have been out spreading the word for the Democratic candidates we need to elect in order to preserve both our jobs and our freedoms (see Protecting the Future p. 18). Not to mention our children’s futures.
We know that Kamala’s priorities are our priorities. She’s pledged to protect and extend healthcare funding. And she also wants to put a stop to the price gouging that keeps our grocery prices high.
The other side want voters to make decisions based on how the candidates make them feel. Did JD Vance talk a good game when he faced off against Tim Walz at the Vice-Presidential Debate in late October. Of course he did. The only problem was a good proportion of what he said was false or misleading. On top of that, he tried to tell us that most of the country’s problems were
Regina Heimbruch
We know that Kamala’s priorities are our priorities. She’s pledged to protect and extend healthcare funding.
caused by immigrants. As 1199ers, almost all of us were either born in a different country ourselves or work alongside people who did. Every year, we march together to celebrate each other’s cultural traditions and heritage (see Cultural Expression p. 9)
The populations we serve as healthcare workers are as diverse as we are. At our institutions we can see the value of staff who speak languages other than English. For instance, having members on hand who can communicate in a woman’s native tongue is one of the keys to providing effective prenatal care and making sure that any risk factors are identified early (see Birth Equity p. 16). This fits in with another shared priority we have with Kamala Harris—a commitment to improving the unacceptably high disparities in maternal health care. Black and native women have some of the worst pregnancy outcomes in the developed world and this has to change.
It’s time to build America where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, not just those who were lucky enough to be born into wealthy families.
The vast majority of us do not want to live in a country that’s bitter and divided. We want something better. We want to be better. We want an America that works for all. Thats why we are going to do what it takes to elect champions like Kamala Harris on November 5 and finally step into the future we deserve.
1199 Magazine
September-October
2024
Vol. 42 No.5 ISSN 2474-7009
Published by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East 498 Seventh Ave, New York, NY 10018 (212) 582-1890
www.1199seiu.org
president George Gresham
secretary treasurer
Milly Silva
senior executive vice presidents
Yvonne Armstrong
Veronica TurnerBiggs
executive vice presidents
Jacqueline Alleyne
Lisa Brown
Roger Cummerbatch
Tim Foley
Adekemi Gray
Todd Hobler
William Kee
Patricia Marthone
Brian Morse
Roxey Nelson
Rona Shapiro
Gregory Speller
Daine Williams
Nadine Williamson
editor
Sarah Wilson
art direction and design
Maiarelli Studio
director of photography
Kim Wessels
contributors
Marlishia Aho
April Ezzell
Diego Grossman
JJ Johnson
Parker Phillips
Desiree Taylor
1199 Magazine is published six times a year—January/ February, March/ April, May/June, July/ August, September/ October, November/ December—for $15.00 per year by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers E. 498 Seventh Ave, New York, NY 10018
Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 1199 Magazine, 498 Seventh Ave, New York, NY 10018
Little Meena and the Big Swim
La Pequeña Meena y El Gran Nado
Written & Illustrated by Lorna Gonsalves
Scan here to order a copy of Little Meena and the Big Swim
Children are not born with a sense of social justice. It is something that develops over time if they are surrounded by positive influences. And it is never too early to instill the value of community and explain the value of collective action.
When many current 1199ers were children themselves, labor unions were much more prevalent in society. Over time, good union jobs have become harder and harder to find.
Little Meena and the Big Swim by Lorna Gonsalves, published in both English and Spanish, was written to help reintroduce the children and grandchildren of current labor union members to the core principles of collective action.
Translated by Ximena Diego
Children’s Book Review
Little Meena and the Big Swim
The book tells the story of how big, greedy fish suddenly take over the “Rainbow Mound” where Little Meena and her fishy friends were accustomed to eating their breakfast.
Five days in a row the big fish shoo the little fish away and hoard all the best food for themselves. Little Meena and her fishy friends initially feel powerless in the face of the seemingly overwhelming power of the big fish.
Eventually, suffering from hunger pangs and fed up with the situation, Little Meena cooks up a plan to confront the bullies. She remembered the stories her grandmother used to tell about organizing “Big Swims”—lots of fish who wanted to solve the same problem coming together to create a stronger force.
Little Meena and her friend Ridwan then proceed to swim around all the places where little fish gather and shared her idea of organizing a big swim. The organizing efforts pay off and eventually enough small fish agree to take part in a Big Swim.
Like all confrontations with forces trying to take more than their fair share, the moment the Big Swim reaches the rainbow mound turns ugly. The big fish taunted the little ones, calling them “striped and speckled brats” and refused to budge. In the end, the sheer weight of numbers forced the bullies off the mound and the little fish swam up onto it, chanting: “Food for All!”
The book’s author, Dr Gonsalves believes strongly in the power of storytelling to promote the kind of collective action needed to build a just world.
to
Take No Vote for Granted
We cannot afford to squander our chance to make our voices heard.
This is crunch time. Only days to go before Election Day. It is certainly no time to relax. There will be plenty of time for that after November 5, but not now.
I’m sure I don’t need to convince you of the imperative of electing Kamala Harris and defeating the fascist Trump. Of course we need to beat him. But we know he is gonna challenge the results, so we need to beat him badly. So badly that there are no questions about the result.
So I am appealing to you. Have you done all you can to win the election? If you are in a state that allows early voting, please do so. Please make a checklist of what you can do in these last days. Make a list of all your loved ones. Call them to make sure they vote. Ask them to make their own lists.
Speak to those in your church, synagogue or mosque. Speak to your community organizations, tenants’ groups, and neighbors. Speak to the parents of your children and grandchildren. Take no vote for granted.
Visit 1199votes.org/volunteer to find out how to get involved. This election will be decided in the following “battleground states”: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada. No matter where you live, the voters in these states are only a phone call away.
Donald Trump is a desperate man. He is not only running for President. He is running to stay out of prison. And he is becoming uglier than ever. He and his running mate, JD
Vance, have no program to offer to improve our schools and our healthcare system, to create decent jobs, to ensure retirement security. Trump’s Supreme Court already gutted federal guarantees of women’s reproductive rights, and Trump threatens to outlaw them altogether. They’ve got no plan to confront the climate emergency and save our clean air and water. They say nothing about lifting the trillion-dollar burden of student debt. Nothing about the growing disparity between the billionaire oligarchs and the majority of working people living paycheck to paycheck.
So, they run on lies—like the ones about Haitian immigrants— here, legally, by the way—eating household pets in Springfield, Ohio. Racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia,”childless cat ladies”—that’s all they’ve got.
We know what Trump will do because he’s done it before and promises to do it again. He will claim victory. He will claim the election was stolen if he loses. His far-right supporters in the House of Representatives will refuse to certify the election. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court threw the election to George W. Bush even though Al Gore had more votes and Florida hadn’t been counted. The Supreme Court today is far more corrupt, its right-wing majority not even disguising its loyalty to Trump.
Are you ready to do your part in the remaining days before November 5? Please start making your phone lists. Leave nobody out. Just a few more days. Let’s get to work!
We know what Trump will do because he’s done it before and promises to do it again. He will claim victory. He will claim the election was stolen if he loses. His farright supporters in the House of Representatives will refuse to certify the election.
The President’s
Column by George Gresham
Around the Regions
Thousands of new members join 1199
More than 850 staff at Northwell Health’s Core Testing Facilities overwhelmingly voted to join 1199SEIU family on September 25. The new members included technologists, technicians, phlebotomists and customer service representatives. This is the second group of lab workers at Northwell Health, New York State's largest healthcare provider and private employer, to organize in the past year. Hundreds of lab staff at the Little Neck facility joined the Union in December.
“This is our opportunity to fight for the benefits—healthcare, a pension, and more—that our Northwell peers have won as 1199 members,” said Roland Denis, a Senior Clinical Lab Assistant.
“We give our patients the best care possible–and now lab staff will have a real voice in our workplace. I’m excited to begin negotiating our first contract,” explained Narda Skyeurs, a Phlebotomist for 18 years, who worked at Northwell for the past three years.
On the same day as the Northwell victory, a further 2,500 new members voted into 1199 from the home care agency, White
Glove Community Care. They will join with the 140,000 home care workers already represented by 1199SEIU.
“For me, this is about my patients. When we have a stronger voice in how things are done and how we are treated at the agency, we can take better care of our patients,” said Rose Wah, a home health aide at White Glove.
The overwhelmingly female group of workers provide care to seniors and people with disabilities across the five boroughs and Westchester.
“Our union is a way for us to stand up for ourselves. I voted yes for 1199SEIU so we have the strongest voice to demand better pay, better benefits, and improved paid vacation time,” explained Ann Marie Lowers, a patient care assistant.
In a separate victory in Queens, NY, more than 140 RNs at Zucker Hillside Hospital voted overwhelmingly to join 1199 and have the right to negotiate alongside many of their co-workers who are already part of the contract with the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes.
MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts Law Guarantees Investment
On September 26, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed into law critical reforms that will lay the groundwork for addressing the safety and staffing issues in the state’s nursing homes.
The Long-Term Care Act’s creation of a new LongTerm Care Workforce and Capital Fund will provide much-needed state support for infrastructure investments and new workforce training programs for nurses, CNAs, home health aides, homemakers and other direct care workers, that include 1199 members. The oversight provisions will also help ensure that long-term care facility owners are truly committed to the communities they serve and prevent private equity funds and hedge fund financiers from exploiting vulnerable patients and workers for profit.
“When we have a stronger voice in how things are done and how we are treated at the agency, we can take better care of our patients.”
Since being released from jail in 2021 after spending nearly 24 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Jon-Adrian Velazquez, has wasted no time. He has acted in a movie, playing himself, alongside Colman Domingo. He has been invited to advise the White House on criminal justice reform and become engaged to be married.
On September 30, the son of a retired 1199SEIU home care organizer, Maria Velazquez, was finally, formally, exonerated at the Manhattan Supreme Court, when a judge overturned his second-degree murder conviction. (Velazquez had previously been granted clemency in order to be released.)
“This isn’t a celebration,” he said outside the courthouse, adding, “This is an indictment of the system.” He wore a baseball cap bearing the words “End of an error.”
In 1998, Velazquez was wrongfully convicted of the murder of a retired New York police officer. He was sentenced to 25 years to life, despite the fact that he did not match the suspect description and had an alibi corroborated by phone records.
1199ers meet Kamala Harris
Members from all the Union’s regions who would like to learn more about how create change in their communities through political action are invited to take part in the Union’s Advanced Member Development program, which runs every year.
When members came together in Philadelphia as part of this program on August 6, they had the added bonus of meeting presidential candidate Kamala Harris when she was announcing her decision to make Tim Walz her running mate.
“This isn’t a celebration. This is an indictment of the system.”
–
Jon-Adrian Velazquez
A few weeks later, another 1199er took the spotlight at the Democratic National Convention. Sophia Colley, an 1199 CNA from Titusville Rehab and Nursing near Cape Canaveral, Florida, appeared high above the crowd on the monitor during the event.
Maria and Jon-Adrian Velazquez outside Manhattan courthouse.
(L-R) Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia, PA, with 1199 Activities Aide, Sheike WardKidd and Yvette Velazquez, 1199 political organizer.
NEW YORK CITY
Around the Regions
Labor Day gatherings in Buffalo, NY, (top) and Syracuse, NY.
Celebrating Worker Power
1199SEIU members from all over Upstate New York came together over Labor Day weekend to celebrate the importance of uniting together as workers to negotiate better pay and conditions.
All the way from Massena, in the far north of the state, to Buffalo in the west, as well as Rochester and Syracuse, 1199ers marched in Labor Day Parades and joined in county fairs alongside fellow members of the labor movement.
Come November 5, it is not just about electing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz— crucial though that is—it is also about all the other representatives who fight for working people at every level of government.
Enjoying the rides at Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester.
Gearing up to Vote
1199SEIU members and their families from across Upstate New York enjoyed a fun day at Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, NY on August 24. Members registered to vote, volunteered to knock on doors with the Union’s Weekend Warriors, and had a chance to meet local, state, and federal elected officials. Members also mingled with Niagara Falls City Councilman Brian Archie and County Legislator Jeffrey Elder at the Niagara County Democratic Picnic in early September. Come November 5, it is not just about electing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz—crucial though that is—it is also about all the other representatives who fight for working people at every level of government.
UPSTATE NEW YORK
UPSTATE NEW YORK
Cultural Expression Rewarded
1199ers Celebrate Parade Season in NYC.
Years of hard work building up the 1199 Mas Camp for the West Indian Day Parade were rewarded on September 2nd with first prize in the Adult Band of the year competition. Since 2018, the 1199 Social and Cultural Committee has had a permanent home at 2255 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn for the Mas camp to showcase mannequins for both children and adult costumes. Mas camps, or masquerade bands, are where participants come together before the big event to produce and customize their costumes and raise money for the bands. Financial support for the 1199 effort this year included: The Allure Group; Mount Sinai Network; One Brooklyn Health; and Centers Healthcare.
Marlene Desilva, an 1199 Phlebotomist who has worked at NewYork Presbyterian Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn for the past 13 years, was introduced to the 1199 Social Cultural Committee and Mas Camp by her Union Delegate five years ago. “Since then, I have been attending with my daughter every year,” says Desilva, who is originally from Grenada, “We both look forward to it. I volunteered for two weeks to help at the camp.”
NYP Methodist Hospital Medical Assistant Neile Sanchez, an 1199er for the past 23 years, has been attending the parade for the past four years. “I really enjoy the dancing and getting to see the different cultures and costumes that we made at the MAS camp,” she says.
The 1199 Junior carnival took place on August 31 and saw members’ children in the medium band
bring home second place in their category. For more information about West Indian Day union activities, visit @1199_social_cultural_ committee on Instagram.
Members also turned out in force for the Dominican Day Parade held on August 11. This year's procession had a distinctly political theme. Participants were encouraged to dance for reproductive justice both in the Dominican Republic and the United States.
Marchers also honored Manolo Tavárez Justo and Yolanda Guzman—two political activists who took part in resistance against the infamous dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and his immediate successor. Both Manolo Talvarez Justo and Yolanda Guzman are widely believed to have been executed by the regime. Manolo Talvarez Justo was 32 when he was killed. Yolanda Guzman was just 21.
On September 8, members came together and proudly marched up Fifth Avenue in New York City to celebrate Labor Day. The 1199 contingent was joined by numerous elected representatives from both the city and state, showing their solidarity with our Union.
Celebrations moved up to Harlem the following week, as 1199ers marched in the 55th African American Day Parade on September 15. As well as celebrating and honoring African Americans who have made key contributions to the community through government and politics, members were also gearing up to get out the vote for the 2024 Harris/Walz ticket.
Members from NYPresbyterian Methodist Hospital from Brooklyn, Marlene Desilva (top) and Neile Sanchez (bottom).
Dominican Day Parade, 1199 contingent.
Enjoying the sunshine at the West Indian Day Parade.
Angelique Huerta, an 1199 Rite Aid member from Queens at the NYC Labor Day March.
(L-R) Angel Cruz, an 1199 Housekeeper at the Oxford Nursing Home in Brooklyn, NYS Senator Zellnor Myrie and 1199 member Karla Douglas at the African American Day Parade.
Scan here for more about Union caucuses bringing together our diverse cultural identities
Marcher in the West Indian Junior Carnival.
Antoinette Rose, an 1199 Medical Records Analyst at Montefiore Medical Center and friend (L).
Work We Do: UHealth Tower
1199SEIU members in Florida face extra challenges when it comes to bargaining strong contracts. Unlike workers in union shops in other states, workers in Florida must overcome greater obstacles to join and maintain strong unions, due to anti-worker legislation known as “Right to Work” laws. Recruiting the numbers needed to build a strong fighting force to negotiate fair wages and benefits is that much harder as a result.
And that’s also why the workers who overwhelmingly agreed to a new contract with UHealth Tower in Miami earlier this year were so justifiably proud of their victory. The agreement included ratification bonuses, significant annual wage increases, a Jobs Committee, expanded promotional opportunities, and shift differentials that range from an additional $1.50 to $8.50 per hour. The facility, formerly the University of Miami Hospital, was the only hospital in the state of Florida to agree to a ratification bonus. Feeling the benefits of working together collectively, nearly 80 new members signed up during two days of ratification.
1. Virginia Kondas, an Advance Practice Registered Nurse, agrees. “I have personal experience of trying to negotiate individually,” she says. “It doesn’t work for me. We know there’s strength in numbers. We know the Union works. We know that those states that have higher union [density], their staff-patient ratios are much better. We also know that the quality of the care that they are going to give is better because the union supports that.”
2. Shirley St Hilaire, an RN Case Manager at the hospital for the past 10 years, also emphasizes the value of collective bargaining. “I am very happy to be part of 1199SEIU,” she says. “Without the help of my fellow members here, I could not have gotten to a potential salary where I should be—where I deserve to be—doing this job for 10 years. I’m very satisfied by what being in the Union was able to do for me.”
3. Geanny Cortes is a Senior Clinic Assistant in the Radiology department who has worked at the hospital for 28 years. He is also another long-term Delegate. His job is to position patients for MRI and CT scans.
“This year we got a great contract because we had more members fighting together than ever before at the hospital,” he says. “The more people we have involved, the better.”
4. For some members, like Guillermo Lopez, this is their first Union job. “I’ve been an RN for seven years, but I just started here one year ago,” he says. “I was an ICU traveling nurse in Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, Texas and New York. I spent eight weeks at Mt Sinai during the Covid outbreak.”
Working in the Cardiothoracic Surgery ward at UHealth Tower is very specialized. “We have to be alert for dysrhythmias,” Lopez explains. “After open-heart
surgery, you can’t do CPR because the sternum has been broken. Instead, you have to reopen the chest and do heart massage.
“I work with one of the best open-heart surgeons in the world here. People come all the way from South America and Europe.”
As a member of the 1199 bargaining committee, Lopez gets asked lots of questions by his co-workers.
“I’m very happy I’m able to be a resource for the other employees,” he says.
“We’ve done great things together. We’ve raised our salaries and we’re getting what we deserve. Not just for me, but the others on the team. Like CNAs and Patient Transporters, who have seen a raise of up to $8 an hour. A lot of the CNA salaries went up by 30 percent. Negotiating as a team is much easier than doing it as a single person, which I have done before. This feels much more empowering.”
“[Negotiating contracts] is not only about money. It is also about nurse/patient ratios and the kind of support we get from management.”
– Cynthia Saget, 1199 RN Case Manager at UHealth Tower
5. “It’s very important for me to be in a union because numbers equal power, says Elizabeth Jazon A member of the hospital’s bargaining committee for the last 14 years, she can say with authority: “This was our best year yet, because we pushed hard while maintaining our composure.” Advocating for the members is not an easy task, Jazon further emphasizes.
“Both sides realized that the head doesn’t move without the neck—and we are the neck,” adds Jazon. “The hospital wants to be the first in terms of research and patient satisfaction and outcomes. They can’t do that without us!
Most people that are not in the union here, it is because of ignorance. If they would get involved, they would know what’s going on.”
6. This time around, there were more people that were vocal and got involved in the bargaining process, according to Vicki Small, an 1199 Pharmacy Technician. “We’re used to getting two or three percent. But this time, we got [a minimum] five percent across the board. We realized that you have to make it happen together. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and one person can’t do it alone. Everybody together for the same cause will make it happen.”
7. Following the pandemic, members were facing higher inflation and feeling the effects of short staffing more than ever, according to Cynthia Saget, an 1199 RN Case Manager at UHealth Tower for the past seven years. “In the last contract
we got three-, two- and two-percent [raises] over three years and we were not happy,” she says. Saget rejoined the bargaining committee to work towards something better.
“This year we had a mindset that we would show management where we were at,” she says, “Healthcare workers give so much of themselves. Even during COVID, we showed up.”
In Saget’s previous job—where she worked for more than 25 years— she says it was “whatever [management] wanted to do, whenever they wanted to do it.
“Just like we see in other facilities that don’t have a union,” Saget continues, “management can say they are not giving a raise this year. And what can you do about it? You can’t negotiate. With a union, you start negotiations aiming high. Management goes low, and we meet somewhere in the middle.”
Saget, who now works in oncology admissions, navigates patients’ stay in the hospital until they are medically stable enough to be downgraded. When they are ready to leave, she helps them to transition to acute rehab, a skilled nursing facility or back home with a home health aide.
“[Negotiating contracts] is not only about money,” she says. “It is also about nurse patient ratios and the kind of support we get from management.”
Strikes Averted
Members in Upstate NY and Florida reach eleventh-hour deals after winning strike votes.
1199 members workers at two Western New York nursing homes voted to ratify a new 1-year labor agreement in late August, averting a planned 24-hour strike at two care facilities in Amherst and Tonawanda, near Buffalo.
The contract covers about 170 workers and includes wage increases of up to 32 percent, with an average increase of 7 percent. Members also won Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday.
“We are glad that we could reach a final agreement,” says Heather Benns, an 1199 LPN. “Experience pay is important because you go to school to earn your license, or you take classes to earn your certification. If you have 30 years with that certification or 10 years with that license, you bring a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience to a nursing home. It significantly affects resident care, particularly as we encounter an increasing number of high-acuity residents,” adds Benns.
About 70 Nursing home workers at Safire Rehabilitations of Northtowns in Tonawanda work as Certified Nurse Assistants, Licensed Practical Nurses, and Unit Clerks.
More than 100 workers at Williamsville Suburban Care Center work as Activities Aides, Certified Nurse Assistants, Licensed Practical Nurses, Physical Therapy Aides, Unit Secretaries, and Maintenance Assistants.
In Florida, 1199ers mounted informational pickets at 11 different locations to raise awareness of what they called a “care crisis” at long-term care facilities owned by the for-profit company, Aspire Health Group.
“If you have 30 years with that certification or 10 years with that license, you bring a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience to a nursing home”
– Heather Benns, an 1199 LPN
Aspire nursing home workers, which include more than 1,000 certified nursing assistants, dietary aides, housekeepers and other staff, voted to picket after several months of negotiations with Aspire yielded little progress. Staffing levels and pay were the chief sticking points. It was not until a strike was called that there was real movement at the table. An eleventh-hour agreement was reached on a 3-year contract proposal which included a 2 percent wage increase and ratification bonuses to avert the strike.
Members say the staffing levels do not leave them enough time to dress, feed, bathe and provide quality care for residents.
“We just want to give them the love that they deserve,” said Diane McMullen, a CNA of 20plus years at the Aspire-owned facility at Rosewood in Orlando.
“We are their family,” McMullen says of Rosewood's residents.
“We love them, too.” McMullen adds that she was inspired to become a CNA because of her brother, who also spent time in a nursing home.
Members picket Aspireowned nursing home in Florida.
Birth Equity
How members in the Bronx are ensuring better outcomes for mothers and babies.
During her time in office, Vice President Kamala Harris has focused intently on protecting the lives of women and children in the birthing process. Recognizing that maternal mortality rates in the U.S.—especially among Black and Indigenous women—are some of the highest in the developed world, Harris has worked hard to reverse the maternal health crisis.
The Biden-Harris administration’s initiatives included funding streams to increase the number of physicians, licensed midwives, doulas, and community health workers in underserved communities as well as a “Birthing-Friendly” designation for hospitals to help families identify high-quality maternity care. Vice President Harris also made sure that the administra-
tion set minimum standards—including staffing standards—for obstetric care and extended Medicaid coverage for a year after childbirth in almost every state.
BronxCare Health System, where many 1199 members work, has been awarded the Birthing-Friendly designation in part for its commitment to overcoming health disparities. This work is particularly urgent because women in the Bronx have the worst maternal health outcomes in New York City, according to the latest statistics.
Speaking to families in their native language helps them feel comfortable seeking early pre-natal care, explained Dr. Suneel Parikh, Director of the Health Equity program at BronxCare. “We can speak to patients in English, Spanish, Ar-
abic, French and Bengali—the five most common languages of the communities we serve,” she says.
The hospital also has an open access policy, meaning that if an appointment is missed, patients can come back at their own convenience. “We recognize that people often have childcare responsibilities and transportation issues that can make it difficult to reach the hospital,” adds Dr Parikh.
This policy helps families to feel comfortable enough to seek consistent prenatal care, so that risk factors for complications like high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and obesity can be identified early and treated. Decreasing the number of C-sections for women whose babies are presenting with their heads facing downwards and are at
low risk of complications, is another key strategy designed to improve outcomes. Since 2021, BronxCare has seen a measurable improvement, with their rate of C-sections for head-first babies down by 2 per cent and continuing to decrease.
Esperanza Hemmings has worked as an 1199 Physician Assistant at BronxCare for the past 24 years. Originally from Venezuela, she is a native Spanish speaker. She estimates that about 80 percent of her patients are Spanish speaking too. “I work in the ER where people might be taken if they are bleeding or having a miscarriage. When women can speak their own language in a stressful situation, it is much more soothing. They can bond with me and relax,” says Hemmings.
“When women can speak their own language in a stressful situation, it is much more soothing.”
– Esperanza Hemmings, 1199 Physician Assistant at the BronxCare main campus
Recognizing that some new mothers in the South Bronx will struggle to pay for essentials like baby formula, clothing, diapers and car seats, she said the hospital works with community organizations who often bring in donated supplies onto the wards.
In the delivery room, Veronica Francisco is another 1199 Spanish speaker who has been working as an OB Technician for 11 years. “Sometimes when you are surrounded by doctors it can be confusing,” says Francisco, “I make sure the mothers understand what is going on.”
Every morning, she takes part in a “group huddle” where all the OB staff gather to discuss each patient and head off any possible problems. They try to promote natural birth, when it can be done safely, because there is less chance of infection and other complications.
Veronica Francisco, 1199 OB Technician at BronxCare.
Esperanza Hemmings, 1199 Physician Assistant at BronxCare.
“Almost all of the patients we see in Obstetrics have already been seen by a midwife in the Women’s Health Center for monthly prenatal appointments,” says Francisco.
In a hospital setting, it is inevitable that things do occasionally go wrong. Francisco recalls being in the room when an emergency hysterectomy had to be performed on a young woman. “She bled so much, and she was in intensive care for several days,” recalls Francisco. “Two weeks later she came back upstairs to show us her baby. I tear up just thinking about it. She was so ill, but we saved her—in part thanks to the dedication of the team here.
“There are no words and no money that will satisfy you more than seeing that person who you were able to save.”
THE FUTURE PROTECTING
Members from all 1199 regions are working hard to ensure that worker champions win in November.
Thousands of members from 1199 shops as far north as the Canadian border, all the way down to the Florida Keys and many places in between have signed up to knock on doors and phone bank during this crucial election season. Understanding the necessity of electing representatives who will preserve and expand the rights of working people, “Weekend Warriors” have been hitting the pavements to talk with voters about what’s at stake on the November 5.
1199 members know that electing Kamala Harris and healthcare champions up and down the ballot will enable us to keep making progress in winning better wages and benefits, while allowing Donald Trump and his allies to return to power will usher in drastic cuts to healthcare. And it is not just patient care and 1199 jobs at risk. This election is also about choosing unity over division.
When Donald Trump and JD Vance launched vicious attacks against Haitian immigrants—many thousands of whom are members of our Union— 1199ers immediately called solidarity rallies to fight back against their attempt to divide working people and distract us from Trump’s failed policies and pro-billionaire agenda.
Nadia Bataille, a CNA who works at the Avante at Lake Worth nursing home near West Palm Beach in Florida, says: “The greatest response to these attacks is to vote to put decent people in the White House.” When Donald Trump was first running for president in 2016, he went to Little Haiti and made promises he didn’t keep, she added, “Instead he called us a sh*thole
Brooklyn members, Angela Morrison a CNA at the Phoenix Rehab and Nursing Center and Angel Cruz, a Housekeeper at the Oxford Nursing Home, canvassing together in Philadelphia, PA.
“I believe it is important for us to do campaigns because we need to understand how the political world affects our day to day, where our kids go to school, the hospitals in our area, fresh food and vegetables in our grocery stores. It’s important to me that my children have a [secure] future.”
– Shauntel Hinkson, 1199 Delegate and MPO Lab Technologist at Mount Sinai
(top) Asian American Pacific Islander members in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, working to reelect Iwen Chu to NYS Senate.
(Middle) Solidarity rally for Haitian immigrants in Long Island, NY.
(Bottom) Members get out the vote in Philadelphia, PA.
country. We [deserve] more than what we got in the last election.”
To maximize members’ impact on the election, the canvassing locations were carefully chosen. In New York, there are a handful of House seats that could determine the balance of power in Congress. Members packed into these candidates’ field offices in the Hudson Valley, Long Island, and Syracuse before fanning out across neighborhoods to reach as many of these crucial voters as possible. Upstate NY members headed to Western Pennsylvania, where polls were showing a dead heat between the two presidential candidates in the “must-win” battleground state.
“I’m supporting Harris for President because the issues are fundamentally about freedom and we cannot afford to go backwards,” explains Carla Heard, LPN at Elderwood at Williamsville Suburban Saffire nursing home in Buffalo, NY.
Shauntel Hinkson, is an 1199 Delegate and Lab Technologist at Mount Sinai main campus in Manhattan, specializing in infectious diseases, including Covid. Her grandmother encouraged her to join 1199. She signed up for phone-banking, saying: “I do a lot of political action work with the union. I believe it is important for us to do campaigns because we need to understand how the political world affects our day to day, where our kids go to school, the hospitals in our area, fresh food and vegetables in our grocery stores. It’s important to me that my children have a [secure] future.”
Felix Quinones, another 1199 Delegate and Supply and Equipment Handler at Mount Sinai, adds: “I think it is very important that we get people in office that are going to take care of seniors, healthcare workers. We need the U.S. Congress to be Democratic, so that we can pass all our bills.”
In Maryland, members hit the doors in Baltimore and Prince George’s County for Angela Alsobrooks, a major champion for
(Top) Haitian solidarity rally at Maimonides Hospital, Brooklyn.
(Middle) Members in Florida supporting YES on 4 ballot initiative to enshrine reproductive freedom in the state’s constitution.
(Bottom) Interfaith Hospital members in Brooklyn demonstrate Haitian solidarity.
“I think it is very important that we get people in office that are going to take care of seniors, healthcare workers. We need the U.S. Congress to be Democratic, so that we can pass all our bills.”
– Felix Quinones, 1199 Delegate and Supply and Equipment Handler at Mount Sinai,
healthcare workers, who is running for Senate in a tight race. New Jersey members came out in support of Sue Altman, the Democratic who is running to unseat the incumbent Republican Tom Kean in Congressional District 7. Control of the US House of Representatives hinges on just a few dozen competitive races nationwide, with NJ-7 being the most important in the Garden State.
1199ers in Florida are engaged in critical fights, including electing Debbie Mucarsel-Powell to Senate and winning the YES on 4 ballot initiative to overturn the state’s draconian abortion ban and enshrine reproductive freedom in the state constitution. From the “Palm Beach Warriors” to the “Sunshine Slayers”, teams of volunteers from different regions across Florida knocked on doors and called voters.
In Massachusetts, members came together on September 10 at the Quincy union hall to watch Kamala Harris face off against her opponent in the televised debate. The event was led by members Hayley Calderon, Isaias Ruiz, and Denise Tomkiewicz, who all took part in the Union’s Advanced Member Leadership Development Program, with Boston City Councilor Enrique Pepén stopping by to highlight what's at stake at every level with this election.
Neiby Perez, is an 1199 Home Care member with the Sunnyside agency in Queens, NY, who traveled to Poughkeepsie to canvass for Kamala Harris. A recent immigrant from Colombia, she said: “Kamala is a person with a focus on unity, not division. She is interested in the hopes of everyone—young people, working people and elderly people. We see in her someone who will bring the country together.”
(Top) Donna Johnson and Winston Robinson (right), knocking doors to support Angela Alsobrooks’ U.S. Senate campaign in Baltimore, MD.
(Bottom) Upstate members support 1199 friend, Pat Ryan, who is facing a tough race to hold onto the 18th Congressional district.
1199ers have a long and proud history of struggle to expand full voting access for all. In its formative years, the Union helped advance this sacred right of citizenship mainly by electing and supporting progressive politicians and legislation.
Women won the right to vote in 1920, just 12 years before the Union was founded. Although the right to vote had been extended to Black men 50 years earlier with the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870, blatant injustices such as state laws, grandfather clauses, poll taxes, literacy tests and outright terrorism prevented millions of people of color from actually exercising their voting rights in practice. That’s why the passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965 was so crucial to ensuring true universal suffrage. The VRA was among the most effective pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history.
This act did not come out of nowhere, however. 1199ers had sided with political efforts more than a generation earlier. For example, when a 1942 bill to abolish poll taxes was stalled in a U.S. House committee, NY Rep. Marc Antonio, a staunch ally of 1199, forced the bill onto the House floor for a vote. The bill passed, but was later killed in the Senate.
In 1950, Local 1199 established a Solidarity Fund. Most of its proceeds went to organizations fighting for civil and voting rights. In 1959,
during 1199’s hospital organizing campaign, Thurgood Marshall, the foremost civil rights attorney in the nation, addressed 1199ers at its annual Negro History Week and praised the union for “what could well be one of the most important organizing campaigns this city has ever seen.”
As the voting rights campaigns gathered steam over the next decade, so did 1199’s involvement. Close to 1,000 members attended the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The union also supported other actions that were vital to the passage of the VRA, including the 1964 Freedom Summer project in Mississippi and the three Selma to Montgomery marches in 1963.
1199’s first union organizing attempt in the South did not result in a union representation victory in Charleston, South Carolina, but the campaign did help Black residents recognize their power. Black voter reregistration skyrocketed after the 1969 campaign, leading to the election of African Americans to the state legislature. In the next decade, Black representation on the Charleston City Council jumped from one member to six.
Northern states like New York also required VRA protections. In 1968, voter registration among Spanish-speaking New Yorkers, some of them 1199ers, was so low
VOTING RIGHTS EXPANDING
1199 has fought to expand access
to the ballot box throughout its history.
that Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn were covered jurisdictions under the VRA’s Section 5, which required designated states and localities to obtain federal approval, or pre-clearance, before any voting change could go into effect.
Voter protection activities increased into the 21st century. 1199ers were among the thousands of Times Square protesters on December 7, 2000, who demanded that all votes in the contested Florida presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush be counted. Five days later, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the recount be halted, thus handing the presidency to Bush and effectively disenfranchising thousands of Florida voters.
During the 2004 national election campaign, 1199SEIU launched what was, at the time, one of the most ambitious political undertakings in the U.S. labor movement’s history. More than 100 members and staff, dubbed “Heroes,” took leaves from their jobs to spend from three to six months registering voters and getting out the vote.
In 2007, the Union’s political army again went into high gear. In August, 1199 initiated its first group of 150 PAC Captains, members who had led political action campaigns. The Captains helped to train members who subsequently registered thousands and helped to get out the vote for the Obama-Biden tick-
et. The program was headed by Patrick Gaspard, then 1199 VP of Politics and Legislation. He later became President Obama’s political action director.
The 2008 Obama victory—and that of other progressive candidates— triggered a right-wing backlash that targeted voting rights. In response, 1199 and other voting-rights organizations rallied some 25,000 people at a December 2011 NYC rally to protest bills in 38 states that sought to restrict access to the ballot. Rally speakers stressed that those bills disproportionately affected the poor, people of color, seniors and students.
“Too many good people have died to give us the right to vote,”
1199SEIU President George Gresham said at the rally.
The most serious blow to voting rights, however, was struck by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, which removed the pre-clearance provision of the VRA. That, in turn, made it possible for states to enact a wave of voter suppression laws.
To help defeat a voter suppression bill that was making its way through the North Carolina Legislature, dozens of 1199ers were arrested in 2013 at Moral Monday demonstrations in Raleigh. Those actions, in which many 1199 retirees participated, helped defeat Governor Pat McCrory, the only incum-
Too many good people have died to give us the right to vote.”
– George Gresham 1199SEIU President
bent Republican to lose a statewide race later in 2016.
In 2020, Georgia 1199 retirees worked round-the-clock to help win tight races for Joe Biden and Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Donald Trump mounted a legal campaign to overturn the Georgia results and called into question Democratic victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and Arizona—states with large percentages of people of color.
Each of the many legal challenges failed, but the former president and his cronies have redoubled their efforts ahead of the 2024 ballot. Republicans have done their best to encourage their supporters to become precinct officers in pivotal swing states. These local officers have the power to recruit poll watchers and poll workers who can make it harder for people to vote. This is one of the many reasons why supporters of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz must vote in huge numbers. If the final tally is close, it could end up being decided in court like it was in 2000—and we know how that turned out.
(Opposite page) Rev Martin Luther King, Jr., with Rev Fred Shuttlesworth and Philip Randolph fighting for voting rights in the 1960s.
(Bottom right) Protesting in Florida over the contested BushGore election in the year 2000.
(Bottom left) NYC rally for voting rights in 2011.
Beverly
and Charmaine
members from Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island on the campaign trail in Philadelphia, PA. See page 18.
