1199 Magazine

One week after New York City’s ticker-tape parade to show appreciation for front-line workers, home care workers rallied in front of City Hall for better wages to reflect the sacrifices they say they make every day. They were calling on Congress to pass the Better Care, Better Jobs Act and to remind everyone that home care is essential. The bill would invest funds into the home care industry, prioritizing wage and benefit increases for caregivers. Read More

In 1967, 1199 produced a celebrated film that movingly dramatized the plight of service workers and the vast improvements that came with unionization. Read More

When 1199 won a major New York League contract victory in June 1998, workers understood that they had been emboldened by their increased strength. A key reason for that strength was the recent merger with Local 144. Read More

Contract campaigns against the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Nursing Homes mark major milestones in 1199’s history. After the Union won its historic hospital organizing victories in 1959, it devoted most of the 1960s to winning full bargaining rights in New York State for some of the poorest workers in the world’s richest city. Read More

Workers at Planned Parenthood Group of New York (PPGNY) and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) made big strides in building worker power this spring with a major organizing win and contract victory. Read More

Workers at Planned Parenthood Group of New York (PPGNY) and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) made big strides in building worker power this spring with a major organizing win and contract victory. Read More

Members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East—the largest union of healthcare workers in Florida—have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new contract negotiated with HCA hospitals throughout the state. The contract secures across the board raises and other benefits for nurses and other staff who have served on the front lines of the COVID-19 public health crisis. Read More

I’ll be honest: There have been more than a few moments during the pandemic where I wasn’t sure we’d ever be able to hug our loved ones again. I’d look at my residents, wondering if they’d ever be able to hold hands with a family member or coo over a grandchild. Even as I was reassuring them, I wasn’t sure if real life wasn’t now forever on the other side of a window or behind a FaceTime screen. I’d smile and quietly hide my tears as family members held signs outside and pressed their palms to the windows of our institution. Read More

The Local 1199 Benefit Plan was formed in 1945, and its goal was to provide basic health, disability and life insurance benefits to just 300 New York City retail drugstore workers with employer-paid contributions. In 1948, the Benefit Fund became self-insured and self administered. Read More

The majority of residents in the United States are fully vaccinated, and nearly 70 percent of adults have taken at least one dose of the vaccine. At the same time, the federal government and many state and local governments have relaxed restrictions. The fully vaccinated have been able to return to seeing loved ones and living their lives nearly the same as before the pandemic. Read More

We are now accepting applications for the Winter/Spring 2022 semester until October 15th and offering the following courses. Read More

The residents, caregivers and all of their families at Livingston Hills Nursing Home have been on a dangerous rollercoaster ride of uncertainty for years. Often on the brink of closure due to short-staffing and non-payment to vendors, especially the fund that provides health benefits for the workers, every effort to sell the distressed skilled nursing home has fallen apart. Read More

Last month marked the 40th anniversary of the first description of AIDS. To date, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has resulted in over 75 million infections and 33 million deaths. Read More

In 1199’s storied history, its victory against the Whelan Stores Corporation counts as one of its most dramatic. At the time, the small but scrappy local of just 5,000 members was hailed for taking on a national drugstore chain. After a bitter fourth strike against Whelan’s in 1953, the workers won a groundbreaking forty-hour, five-day-a-week contract. Read More

The 450,000 healthcare workers of 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East, are saddened and outraged by the recent assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. We wish his widow, Haiti’s First Lady Martine Moïse, a speedy recovery and send our deepest condolences to the Moïse family and all of Haiti. 1199SEIU stands with the people of Haiti and with the thousands of Haitian members in our Union. Read More

This #PrideMonth, we’d like you to meet 1199er Tierra Roberts, her wife Mykia Wright, and their 4 beautiful children – Jaylen, Liam, Kylie, and Karman. Read More

Did you know that they/them is a pronoun, like she/her or he/him? We spoke with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East member Danny Mendoza, who uses they/them pronouns, about why pronouns are so important and about what it means to them to be non-binary. Read More

This #PrideMonth, we’d like to introduce you to 1199er Claudia Martinez, who works at Whitman-Walker Health, an LGBTQ+ community health center in DC. Read More

As we close out #CaribbeanHeritageMonth , we’d like you to meet 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Delegate Ionis Bandele, a Registered Nurse at University of Maryland Prince George’s Medical Center. Read More

Meet Kathleen Ball, who has been an 1199SEIU member and Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at BridgePoint Hospital in Southeast DC since June 2005. Her residents and fellow union members have long recognized what an exceptional CNA and coworker she is, and her facility awarded her Employee of the Year this year. Read More