I am very happy because this morning I received my rst dose of the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine. I hope our members and retirees will also embrace the vaccine to protect themselves and their families. For the last year, we healthcare workers have seen this deadly virus take the lives of our patients, co-workers on the frontlines, and our family and friends. Read More
Our Union mourns the death of one of its greatest friends, David Dinkins. New York City’s only African American mayor passed away Nov. 23 at his Manhattan home. He was 93. His wife of 67 years, Joyce Dinkins, a celebrated children’s advocate, died only six weeks before
him, on Oct. 11. Read More
With the exception of Maryland- D.C. and Florida districts, 1199 is not generally viewed as a political force below the nation’s Mason-Dixon line. Nonetheless, our Union’s retirees throughout the South are flipping the script. Read More
Ansel Oommen, a clinical laboratory technologist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, lives where art and science meet. Since childhood, as an emerging artist he used his creativity to process emotions for which he did not yet have words. As he grew older, Oommen was also drawn to the sciences and the natural world. Read More
At Clark Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (CNRC) in Clark, NJ, 1199SEIU members care for a broad spectrum of patients. Caregivers at CNRC treat patients recovering from surgery and seniors needing long-term care. CNRC members also work on a ventilator management unit, where they treat patients unable to breathe on their own. COVID-19 has highlighted not only the importance of this work, but also the professionalism and dedication of those who do it. Read More
In the 1960s, the blue and white 1199 paper hats became a powerful symbol of economic and racial justice. The hat was worn during the hospital organizing drives in the early 1960s, but it began to symbolize progressive struggles especially after the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Read More
Caregivers set to protest low wages, poor benefits, and inadequate staffing levels in fight for
contract and call for industry reform. Read More
For hundreds of 1199ers, Jan. 20 is the anniversary of one of the most important days of their lives. These 1199ers were present 12 years ago for the inauguration of the first African American president in our nation. Read More
We are less than two weeks into 2021, and our nation is at a dangerous crossroads. The road behind us is littered with violent acts of insurrection. The path ahead is uncertain, as mobs plan more riots as Inauguration Day approaches. Read More
As you know, healthcare workers are at an increased risk of contracting the virus and unknowingly passing it along. We know it has been especially challenging to protect yourself and your family as flu season and the surge in the ongoing pandemic have collided, creating the potential for a “twindemic” that threatens to pressure our already stressed healthcare system. Read More
As promised, 1199SEIU is doing all we can to provide education and resources to keep our membership informed and updated about COVID-19, vaccinations, and the guidelines and protocols necessary to keep us safe and healthy.
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Just as healthcare workers have fought in the current pandemic to heal America, they also face the work of healing themselves. Every day,
healthcare workers bear witness to severe illness and mass death while simultaneously tending to dozens of patients requiring previously unseen levels of care. At the same time, they are also fighting to protect themselves and their families from the novel coronavirus, and too often, they must heal themselves and/or family members after infection. Add to that health care’s pre-existing structural problems: susceptibility to worker burnout, and an already marginalized workforce that is overwhelmingly Black, Brown, and female. Read More
As New York State’s Buffalo Niagara Region comes up against a second wave of the coronavirus, the area’s Catholic Health (CH) hospital system is relying on a strong foundation of preparedness and lessons learned during February’s COVID-19 outbreak. Read More
In what is arguably the most consequential presidential election in American history, 1199ers overcame the challenges of a global pandemic and helped Joe Biden and Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump. Now, members are setting about the work of undoing the damage done by four years of Donald Trump while at the same time battling COVID’s second wave. Read More
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed two bills on Oct. 23 ordering historic reforms to the Garden State’s long-term care industry. The laws are the culmination of a years-long battle to improve conditions for New Jersey’s long-term care workers and the residents for whom they care. 1199ers have been at the forefront of the struggle, so the day was one of pride and emotion. Read More
After a protracted struggle that spanned over a year and through the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, workers at NYU Winthrop University Medical Center in Mineola, NY, have their first collective bargaining agreement as members of 1199SEIU. Read More
Cathy Mahar, a first assistant surgery RN at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Buffalo since 1987, grew up with the Golden Rule, and it’s one of the reasons she became a nurse. “I wanted to take care of others, and people who are sick,” she says. Mahar’s parents were her biggest
supporters, encouraging her into the profession. She credits her high school ROTC program with encouraging her toward the education and discipline she needed to become a nurse Read More
1199SEIU member Genevieve E. Smith has been named to a new SEIU Healthcare Worker COVID Advisory Committee that will advise the Biden Administration’s COVID Task Force. The Committee will ensure that the experiences and perspectives of healthcare workers are included in the Biden administration’s COVID response: they will make recommendations and virtually meet with Task Force members
as they plan the continuing battle against COVID-19. Read More
Registered Nurses New York Presbyterian-Queens in Flushing held an informational picket Nov. 9 to demand that management settle a new contract that protects their healthcare and retirement benefits and provides higher wages. Read More
Today we welcome more than 100 new members at White Plains Hospital into the 1199SEIU family. They are joining hundreds of fellow members in the Hudson Valley, who have already negotiated some of the best pay and benefits in the country. Read More