11 minute read
Around the Regions
– Anne Lawler Social Worker Kidney Transplant Unit
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2. “The two enemies to transplants are infection and rejection,” says Anne Lawler, a Social Worker on the Kidney Transplant Unit, and it is her job to help prevent either of these problems arising. Dedicated postoperative care is crucial, as Lawler has learned over her 31 years in post. “I recently had a patient who was only 30 years old, who had come to the U.S. from Thailand as a child. He had no family here, but he had a very closeknit circle of friends.” Lawler made sure she learned enough about the characters of the people in this group to feel comfortable signing off on the procedure. “They turned out to be extremely generous and kind. But they could have left him high and dry.”
3. “Being a social worker in a hospital is different from on the outside,” says Lynette Williams (middle) a Social Worker in Outpatient Oncology for 20 years. “We have to learn medical jargon so we can explain to patients what they will be facing when they get home.” Working with cancer patients poses specific challenges, adds Angela Heller (left), an Oncology Social Worker of 35 years standing. “We help people to speak to their children at the ends of their lives and support them through guardianship decisions. As social workers, we see patients as not just a diagnosis, but as people, each with a life outside of the hospital that we need to respect and consider.”
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In-patient Oncology department also took in COVID-19 patients because the hospital needed the beds. “I remember when a patient died on our ward, and I drove her belongings to the apartment of her 94-year-old mother, who was unable to leave her house because of the pandemic.”
4. Winsome Sewell (left), a Pediatric Pulmonary Social Worker for 34 years, started her job the same day as Irene Sprung (right), a Social Worker in the NICU who works with infant cardiac patients. She says: “Every mother feels a sense of responsibility. I am here to help them realize that it is not their fault.” Sewell, who works mainly with cystic fibrosis patients, recalls: “When I first started in 1988, these young people weren’t living past 20. But treatment has improved greatly over the past 30 years. I provide them with long-term emotional support as they learn to manage their condition. Also, practical help, like finding grants to pay for medication that is not covered by insurance.”
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– Winsome Sewell Pediatric Pulmonary Social Worker
HOME CARE
Kaylie Ibarra
MEMBERVICTORIES
By fighting collectively, 1199ers get more money in their pockets.
In a historic decision covering more
than 100,000 current and former 1199SEIU home care members, a New York City arbitrator has ordered 42 agencies to fund a $32 million Special Wage Fund to compensate members for wages owed for sleep and meal interruptions on 24-hour cases and other wage violations.
This decision marks the culmination of a legal battle which began in 2019 when 1199 filed a class action grievance against 42 agencies. The grievance was made possible because 1199 home care workers negotiated language in their collective bargaining agreements (CBA) allowing them to pursue wage and hour violations through arbitration. This meant that workers could be represented by the union in these cases and did not have to pay for lawyers of their own.
Before 2016, most employers did not have procedures in place to pay for sleep and meal interruptions on 24-hour shifts. In 2015, the Union negotiated language in the CBA to ensure such procedures were in place. Since then, the Union has worked hard to ensure that workers know the procedures for reporting sleep and meal interruptions. The grievance was filed to seek compensation for those times when workers were not compensated properly on 24-hour shifts, as well as when workers did not receive travel time between cases and other wage violations. The Special Wage Fund will now enable members to receive compensation. Claim forms will be mailed to current and former bargaining unit members by Arden Claims Service at the end of April 2022.
More than 5,000 home care workers at
Concepts of Independence, who voted to join 1199 last year, were also celebrating their first contract which includes immediate bonuses of up to $500, with a reopener in May 2022 to discuss wage increases following the publication of the state budget. Members at Concepts will also benefit from the 1199SEIU Home Care Industry Education Fund, which enables workers to develop skills, improve their English-language proficiency, prepare for the U.S. naturalization test, earn a high school equivalency diploma, prepare for college entrance exams and attend college.
From Manhattan to Plattsburgh, in Upstate NY, workers at Concepts provide personal care and other services to people living with disabilities and others that can direct their own care through New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP).
The program allows workers to provide self-directed care for consumers, including relatives and friends, which means they can remain in the comfort and safety of their homes and maintain their independence and selfdetermination.
Arleen Angus, a Concepts member who travelled to Albany in February with fellow 1199ers campaigning for a statewide increase in home care workers pay, said: “This job really isn’t easy and we deserve to be making more money. But I know we can accomplish a lot more if we work together, than what any of us could do individually.”
Special Wage Fund Home Care Agencies
ABC Health Service Registry AccentCare of NY, Inc. Alliance for Health Alliance Home Services Azor Home Care Bronx Jewish Community Council Home Attendant Services Bushwick Stuyvesant Heights Home Attendant CABS Home Care Care at Home Chinese-American Planning Council Home Attendant Program, Inc. CIDNY Cooperative Home Care Family Home Care Services of Brooklyn and Queens FEGS Home Care First Chinese Presbyterian CAHA Home Care Services For Independent Living Home Health Management New York Foundation for Senior Citizens Home Attendant Partners in Care Personal Touch Home Care of N.Y. Personal Touch Home Care of Long Island, Personal Touch Home Care of Westchester People Care, Inc. Premier Home Health Care Prestige Home Attendant d/b/a All Season Prestige Home Care Priority Home Care PSC Community Services, Inc. RAIN Home Attendant Services, Inc. Region Care Richmond Home Needs, RiseBoro Homecare, Inc. Riverspring Licensed Home Care Agency Rockaway Home Attendant Saint Nicholas Human Support Corp. School Settlement Home Attendant Corp. Special Touch Home Care Services, Inc. Stella Orton Home Care Sunnyside Home Care Project Sunnyside Citywide Home Care United Jewish Council of the East Side Home Attendant Services Wartburg – No Place Like Home Care
Members whose employer is listed here can call the hotline number at 1-833-706-1199 with questions about the arbitration
Long hard battles for reform are beginning to pay off.
– Sophia Colley CNA Delegate, Titusville, Florida
Florida members have been
celebrating both legislative and contract wins in the early part of this year, which were a long time coming.
Following intense lobbying in the state capital, Tallahassee, 1199ers convinced the legislature to pass a budget including a $15 minimum wage for all Florida nursing home workers.
Starting in October of this year, nursing homes will receive specially ear-marked Medicaid money that can only be spent on raising nursing home worker wages to a minimum of $15. This wage floor applies to all nursing home workers, including CNAs, dietary, housekeeping and laundry workers. This would not have happened but for the determined lobbying of 1199 nursing home members in Tallahassee year in and year out, telling their personal stories and moving legislators. This isn’t the end of this battle, with $15 an hour being seen as the first step on way to further increases, with quality, affordable benefits.
At the same time, Florida 1199ers
who work at Tenet hospitals have been able to secure the largest increase they have received in many years. The agreement with Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, Good Samaritan Medical Center and West Boca Medical Center also addresses inequity by introducing wage scales based on years of experience.
1199SEIU Delegates have been
advocating for wage scales for both ancillary and RNs over many years of negotiations, and it is a significant step forward in lifting up experienced employees who have been making less than or the same as new hires.
Most employees will receive the maximum yearly raise until reaching the appropriate place on the scale based on years of experience with no caps.
Florida members rally for better pay in Tallahassee.
Our Retirees: Jacynth Stewart
A former Union Delegate whose lifelong commitment to political action is far from waning.
For Jacynth Stewart, political
awareness was nurtured from a very early age. Growing up in Jamaica, Stewart recalls: “My parents used to take me to all their political meetings as a young child and I would sit on their lap and play pretend like I was voting,” the now retired 1199SEIU Delegate remembers, “I would put my finger in the ink and stamp it on a piece of paper.”
Stewart moved to the U.S. as a teenager, finished school, and started working in the kitchens at Beth Israel Medical Center in 1984. “During my first week we went on strike. I was like, this can’t happen now, I just got here! I told my Mom about it, and she said, ‘don’t cross any picket line with 1199!’ “So, I was out on the line, 47 days, and every other weekend. I even brought my daughter with me, who was three at the time. I got threats from management saying they were going to terminate me, but the union said, ‘don’t worry about that.’ That was my first experience of 1199.” Later that same year she was elected as a Union Delegate.
The Union nurtured Stewart’s
natural leadership and enthusiasm for education, justice and advocacy –- supporting her to become Chair of both the Delegates Body of Beth Israel and the Jobs Committee. “I liked the Jobs Committee because we got to hear appeals from members. If they got suspended or fired, if they had issues going on with the contract, we would hear them first and decide if it needed to go to the appeal board for arbitration. We also were there to make sure the contract we had was enforced. It felt good to keep management on their toes, telling them they can’t just implement what they want or change this or that, you’ve got to follow the contract.
“When members didn’t know their rights or what was in the contract, we got to educate them. And we were there to monitor who came into the hospital – we made sure they were union members and if they weren’t, we’d sign them up.” Stewart also helped members during nursing home mergers, assisted organizers in preparing members for bargaining, and often went to Albany and DC to do lobbying.
Since retiring as a Diet Clerk at
Mount Sinai Beth Israel in 2017, Stewart has not cut back on her union activism. Instead, she has taken on new roles with 1199’s retirees. She’s worked in organizing retiree chapters, phone banking to register retirees to vote, encouraging them to come to 1199 rallies and show their support and been involved in the Retiree choir. “I tell retirees to get active! There are so many different ways for them to be involved. There are classes they can take (cooking, exercising, yoga, etc.) and trainings they can do. Just because you’re retired doesn’t mean you have to stay at home and look at the walls.” She’s also a member of the Childcare Committee, letting members know about the opportunities within the childcare fund of summer camps for their children and scholarships.
Even though she’s no longer working in the hospital, Stewart often provides advice to current Union Delegates. “I still get phone calls from former coworkers asking me questions! And when retirees have questions, they call me. I enjoy meeting with members, especially new ones in the shops, and I help educate them about being in the union. The best part is education: letting people know the history and value of the union, so you know the power you’re negotiating from and a part of. 1199 was foundational, it paved the way for a lot of unions and union reform. Being a part of a union is not just about your paycheck, it’s political action, advocacy and education. You’re a part of all of these things when you’re in a union, so get involved!”
Caption TK an Occupational Therapy Assistant at the New Jewish Home in Manhattan.
