Media Center

Rochester, NY - It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the passing of national labor leader, friend, co-worker, and retired 1199SEIU Vice-President Bruce Popper. Bruce passed away at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester yesterday afternoon at the age of 71. Bruce is survived by his wife of 36 years Barbara and his daughter Katherine Dee Popper. Read More

Albany, NY: New York’s Public Health and Health Planning Council met today to vote on regulations that would guide the implementation of two laws that were passed in 2021: Read More

Buffalo, NY – Last month, union members at the Alba de Vida clinic participated in Labor Management Meetings to address safety planning at the lower west side clinic. The clinic is run by Promesa, Inc, an affiliate of Acacia Network. Healthcare workers felt increasing concern over providing care to patients without added security protections in place and worked with management to add security and safety plans at clinic sites in Buffalo and Dunkirk. Clinic staff are represented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. Read More

There are many critical issues that could affect working families depending on the outcome of the midterm elections - from voting rights to women’s reproductive freedom. But a top priority for member political organizer Karen Scott is staffing. It’s an issue she knows well as a longtime certified nursing assistant (CNA) at an assisted living facility in Tampa. Right now, she’s devoting her time to electoral work to help get out the vote. But she says she still hears grim stories from colleagues about the impact unsafe staffing is having on residents and caregivers. Read More

By the late 1980s, 1199 had grown into a New York City political powerhouse. But even as far back as the 1930s, the Union could be found on the front lines of progressive battles. Its leaders were staunch supporters of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal and its coalition members. Read More

There is no doubt working on the frontlines during the covid pandemic took a terrible toll on 1199ers in the healthcare workforce. Hailed as heroes at the height of the crisis, it took far too long for many bosses to recognize their extraordinary sacrifices with concrete benefits like wage increases and bonus payments. Read More

“I started gathering stories over 20 years ago,” says Tomasina Decrescenzo, a retired 1199 RN operating room nurse at the now closed St. John’s Hospital in Queens, who published her first book Two Left Feet in April 2022. “During Covid, I found this big box in my closet [of written stories], and I thought, let me take this out and try to put it together,” she said. Read More

More than 500 Registered Nurses at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, New Jersey celebrated forming a union with 1199 in August. As the Union’s first hospital unit in NJ, the victory represents a significant opportunity to grow its power. Read More

The political movement that 1199ers have built up over decades to protect and expand the rights of working people is now facing some of its greatest challenges. Members worked extremely hard to ensure that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were elected in 2020. But extremist Republicans who represent the interests of large corporations and billionaires—even while pretending to side with “the little guy”—will stop at nothing to turn back the clock. Read More

As brick-and-mortar retail operations fight off online competition and a surge in shoplifting across the sector, 1199 members at Rite Aid are amongst the few retail workers who can rely on contract language to protect their jobs. Read More

After a long, hard battle, members at the Columbia Morningside and SSA bargaining units settled a new three-year contract including a three percent annual wage increase and a lump sum bonus payment of $500. Read More

More than 1,200 longterm caregiver at a dozen for-profit nursing homes across two Western New York counties whose union contracts had expired joined together to win $15 an hour for service workers, higher starting rates for new employees, and standard wage scales for experience following months of unrest and strike action. Read More

Teaching new staff members in Professional and Technical roles requires skill and dedication from older hands in the facility. In recognition of the extra work this requires, a pay differential known as “Preceptor Pay” was successfully negotiated at the last contract negotiation with the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes. Read More

Buffalo, NY – Today, Kaleida Health union nurses, clinical, professional, technical, service, dietary, and clerical staff represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East voted to ratify a new 3-year contract with the largest hospital system in WNY. The collective bargaining agreement includes industry-leading wages and safe staffing ratios. The agreement will cover over 6,300 union healthcare workers at Buffalo General Medical Center, Oishei Children’s Hospital, Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, HighPointe on Michigan, DeGraff Medical Park, and various community-based clinics. Of the members who voted, 91% from 1199SEIU and 74% from CWA Local 1168 and 1199SEIU were in favor of ratification. Read More

On Thursday September 1, a day before the start of Labor Day weekend, 1199SEIU members and community leaders rallied at the 7th Street Park in Hudson and asked: “Will Columbia Memorial Hospital have enough staff to meet the community’s healthcare needs throughout the holiday?” Read More

More than 1,000 members at the hospitals owned by Nuvance Health signed a letter to the Nuvance Board of Directors at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie and Putnam Hospital in Carmel, NY—calling on them to tackle short staffing. They sent the letter three different times, but unfortunately, when August came around, there was still no response. Read More

Member Political Organizer (MPO) Kenzi Stewart recently experienced an up-close look at the very worst of Hurricane Ian that decimated Southwest Florida. Ian tragically killed more than 100 Floridians and left many more desperate and displaced when their homes were destroyed. Stewart evacuated her Fort Myers home to ride out the storm with family in Port Charlotte, both areas hit hard by historic water and wind. At her worksite, Fawcett Memorial Hospital, a large portion of the building’s roof above the ICU was torn off by Ian’s Category 4 winds. Read More

Marching under the banner “Workers Leading, Workers Rising”—roughly 1,000 members and officers surged onto 5th Avenue to show solidarity with emerging unions at the Labor Day Parade in New York City on September 10th. Read More

The mainstream media has downplayed one of the biggest stories of the year. I’m referring to the tens of thousands of workers organizing themselves into new unions. I’d say they “somehow” missed the significance of the story—but, of course, the media is owned and run by billionaires; workers forming unions is about the last thing they want their viewers and readers to learn about. Read More

If ever there were a time to stand up for our families and our communities, this is it. It is less than two years since we went all out to help secure victory for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – at the height of the pandemic. Read More