percent pay raise

2. Julio Alix, Secretary 3, works in the back office doing payroll for the more than 125 people employed in Food and Nutrition, which includes the kitchens, cafeteria and a kiosk selling cappuccino and light snacks that was recently opened in the nearby Maimonides Doctors Pavilion. Alix also manages the paperwork for long-term leave. “Since the pandemic,” says Alix, “several staff have had to take long breaks from work.”

3. “I worked here all throughout the pandemic,” says Dwight Wilson, a Dietitian Assistant. “I volunteered to go into patients’ rooms to bring them food. I saw myself in them and knew I would want someone to help me. I was a little nervous at the beginning, but I never tested positive.” When the vaccines came out last year, Wilson got his shot from the first batch on December 18th and then went on to convince other members to get vaccinated, too.

“I volunteered to go into patients’ rooms to bring them food. I saw myself in them and knew I would want someone to help me.”

– Dwight Wilson, Dietitian Assistant

4

“One of my friends here inspired me to become an 1199 Delegate. At the time, it was all very new to me as I had never been in a union before.”

– Claudia Bowen-Hosten, Team Leader of Food & Nutrition and 1199SEIU Delegate

4. After working at Maimonides for a few years, Claudia Bowen-Hosten, the Team Leader of Food & Nutrition, recalls: “One of my friends here inspired me to become an 1199 Delegate. At the time, it was all very new to me as I had never been in a union before. She showed me that you have to read the contract, or management will ask you to do things that are not in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Being a Union Delegate makes me feel empowered.”

5. “My job is to look after patients who don’t eat solid food—the people who are on feeding tubes,” says Evelyn Asomaning, a Food Service Worker. “I make sure [each patient] has the right mix of nutrition for their condition. “It was hectic here during the pandemic. I was very worried about bringing the virus home to my husband who is elderly. I also have children and grandchildren living in the house, so I would take off my clothes outside the apartment. My daughter did catch COVID19, but she was okay.”