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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.