League Talks Kick Off

1199ers Home Health Workers Rally for Better Care Better Jobs Act

Events highlight workers’ dedication and sacrifice during the pandemic.

On July 13, just a week after New

York City celebrated its frontline workers with a ticker-tape parade, hundreds of homecare workers marched and rallied in lower Manhattan to call attention to their sacrifice and the need for better pay and support for their industry.

The event was part of a nationwide day of action demanding that Congress pass the Better Care Better Jobs Act, which includes a $400 billion investment in homecare. The investment would help create millions of new jobs and expand access to homecare for at least one million families and individuals.

With the march, 1199SEIU homecare workers turned the streets around New York City Hall into a sea of purple and threatening rain clouds didn’t dampen spirits or a sense of purpose. Rona Shapiro, 1199SEIU’s Executive Vice President for Homecare, praised the workers’ dedication—even in the face of a pandemic.

“You have shown out and shown up, keeping New Yorkers safe,” said Shapiro.

Shapiro was joined on the event’s program by 1199SEIU President George Gresham, Congressman Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY), SEIU Vice President Rocio Saenz, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. “You were there, no matter how tough it was, you showed up,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at a rally held before the march.

“We love what we do, but we need to be paid better,” affirmed Lilieth Clacken, a home health aide who works for the Region Care and All Metro agencies.

Anna Couch, a home health aide with the Personal Touch agency, urged her 1199 family to see through the fight for Better Care Better Jobs.

“We homecare workers have sacrificed a lot and have risked our lives to provide necessary care for our clients during COVID-19,” said Couch. “We homecare workers are essential and demand that we are recognized as such. We deserve to be protected and respected. Si Se Puede!”

Personal Care Attendants in

Massachusetts also rallied that day, demanding better pay and working conditions. The Springfield, MA action was one of 24 sites nationwide where workers made their voices heard.

“We bring everything to our job because we take care of consumers,” PCA Minerva LeBron told Springfield’s WWLP. “And we give them more than 100 percent of ourselves.”

Home Health Aide Anna Couch and Congressman Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY) were among the speakers at a July 13 march and rally in New York City calling on Congress to pass the Better Care Batter Jobs Act. The legislation includes a $400 billion investment in the homecare agency. The NYC event was part of a National Day of Action across the country. 1199SEIU home health workers also gathered in Springfield, MA to call attention to the need for better pay and benefits for Personal Care Attendants and other home health workers.

The Better Care Better Jobs Act, which includes a $400 billion investment in homecare. The investment would help create millions of new jobs and expand access to homecare for at least one million families and individuals.

MDDC 1199ers marked Juneteenth with a contract rally at the home of Lisa Mules, CEO of LifeBridge Vocational Health Services in Baltimore.

“A Change Is Gonna Come”

To celebrate Juneteenth, workers at Baltimore’s VSP took their yearlong contract fight to the boss’s house.

A group of MDDC region workers

this year marked Juneteenth with a dramatic action standing up for workers’ rights—and in keeping with the holiday’s spirit of ending oppression.

Workers from LifeBridge Health Vocational Services Program (VSP) in Baltimore held rally at the Carol County home of VSP Director Lisa Mules who has for over a year been thwarting VSP workers’ attempts to organize. VSP, a department of Sinai Hospital, provides vocational services for disabled people. According to its website, the 50-year-old organization serves over 300 disabled individuals, who are almost exclusively people of color.

On July 3, 2020, VSP workers filed for their first union election. VSP management immediately moved against the workers’ organizing efforts. And since that first election, the workers—most of whom make under $12 an hour—have voted overwhelmingly to join 1199 in three separate elections. Mules and other VSP execs have continued to challenge the workers’ right to a union—even though courts have twice ruled for workers, with a third case still pending at press time. Though VSP describes its mission as offering careers for people with disabilities, executives continue to deny workers’ their basic rights, say VSP staffers.

Many, like building worker Wilzona Taylor, have worked at the organization for decades. She says their employer is not living up to its commitments to workers and does not respect basic good practices like adequate scheduling and training.

“A lot of us have been working for seven days a week but not receiving the correct pay for working seven days, which is overtime—even though VSP has been well aware that they should have been paying us overtime,” says Taylor, who’s been with VSP for over three decades. “Management changed our shifts [to] from 12 noon to 8 p.m. so we wouldn’t receive the overtime.”

Edward Daniels, a cleaner at VSP for 23 years, says their contract fight is also about fair wages and bonuses, advancement opportunities, good retirement, and basic respect.

Cleaner Joe Pullen pointed out that VSP recently ended their contributions to the workers’ retirement plan, causing great anxiety to the staff. None of VSPs actions reflect their mission of rehabilitation, he says. “They claim they are a rehabilitation facility,” he said. “But they don’t post jobs, and they don’t train you for other work, like the property manager position.” So, workers decided to hold a caravan and rally on June 19, a day celebrating Black freedom, at Director Lisa Mules’ house to remind VSP management that fighting workers’ legal right to organize is a form of oppression.

“[What’s going on at VSP] makes me think of Tulsa, Oklahoma, where people created Black Wall Street, and [white Tulsa] people were jealous of Black people prospering,” says cleaner Joe Pullen. “They thought we should be beneath them, when what we want is an equal share.”

Since the Juneteenth demonstration, workers have been demanding that VSP “Stop the Appeal! Let’s Make a Deal!” Pullen is prepared to stay in the fight for the long haul: “Take it from Mr. Sam Cooke: through our hard work and sweat, ‘A Change is Gonna Come.’”

“They thought we should be beneath them, when what we want is an equal share.”

– Joe Pullen, Cleaner

Florida Caregivers Launch Campaign

“We are essential. Treat us like heroes.”

Long term care workers across

Florida who have been on the front lines of the pandemic are uniting through their union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, to call on government officials and nursing homeowners to better protect and fully fund nursing homes.

Through the “We Are Essential, Treat Us Like Heroes” campaign, caregivers are putting a spotlight on these and other critical issues that leave nursing home residents and workers at risk, including unsafe staffing and high turnover due to low wages.

“I love my job. That’s why I have been a caregiver for 45 years,” said Blanche Norwood, a CNA at a Miami nursing home. “But it’s getting more and more difficult to be there for each and every resident, because there aren’t enough qualified staff. Many caregivers have left the job because they can’t survive on poverty wages.”

The average hourly wage for a certified nursing assistant (CNA) is about $12 per hour. That’s about $25,000 per year—which is less than the federal poverty level for a family of four.

“It’s unconscionable that nursing home workers, who put themselves at risk every day during this pandemic to care for loved ones don’t make enough to provide for their own families,” said Roxey Nelson, Vice President and Director of Politics and Strategic Campaigns at 1199SEIU, the largest healthcare union in Florida. “This has a ripple effect, because low wages lead to high turnover, and that impacts staffing levels and ultimately the quality of care.”

A new law allowing personal care attendants (PCAs) to stand in the void for CNAs could make matters worse, says Nelson, because PCAs have inadequate training, and they can’t perform all of the critical tasks that a CNA does. But PCAs still count toward the standard of 2.5 staff per patient.

“Wouldn’t you prefer experienced staff caring for your grandmother or parent?” asked Nelson.

Short staffing and low wages have

been widespread problems in Florida nursing homes long before the pandemic. The health crisis exposed just how critical these issues are and the impact they have on the lives of residents and workers. The COVID-19 pandemic also revealed how committed, essential and heroic nursing home workers have been through it all, answering the call of duty, despite their risk of exposure to this life-threatening virus.

“The name of our campaign – “We Are Essential, Treat Us Like Heroes”—is fitting because these dedicated and brave caregivers deserve both accolades and a living wage so they can take care of their families,” explained Nelson. “As these workers prepare to bargain for new contracts this year, we’re calling on their employers to invest in their employees because quality care starts with caregivers.”

“I love my job, that’s why I have been a caregiver for 45 years. But it’s getting more and more difficult to be there for each and every resident...Many caregivers have left the job because they can’t survive on poverty wages.”

– CNA Blanche Norwood