Dunkirk, NY – About 150 healthcare workers are celebrating a contract victory this week at Brooks Memorial/TLC Health Systems. Caregivers are represented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
Caregivers who held one‐day strike form coalition with Clergy, NY and Missouri Labor Unions to bring
their contract fight to the steps of Ascension Living Headquarters
Healthcare Workers, Patients, Seniors and Retirees, Elected Officials and More Say Connecticut-based Nuvance Health Is Destroying Their Community Hospital
Since the pandemic, more and more members are taking advantage of the free therapy provided by the Union benefit fund to come to terms with mental stress.
Statement of George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the nation’s largest healthcare union:
Caregivers are demanding competitive wages and better staffing levels from Ascension Living at Our Lady of Peace, a subsidiary of one of the largest Catholic Health systems in the United States1 based in St. Louis, Missouri.
The healthcare field has long attracted recent U.S. immigrants, who bring their skills and commitment from around the world. To help ensure that Union members enjoy all the benefits and privileges of living in this country, the 1199 Citizenship program was set up more than 20 years ago.
As this Magazine goes to press, the country is approaching a grim milestone. March 16 will be the second anniversary of New York City schools being shut down and workers at most non-essential businesses being ordered to work from home. This day marked the beginning of what became known as the ‘lockdown’. Hopes for a return to normal were first dashed by the Delta variant and more recently by Omicron. Healthcare workers on the frontlines have always been the essential workers most at risk of contracting the virus themselves.
Lewiston, NY – More than 150 nursing home workers at Ascension Living at Our Lady of Peace in Lewiston will strike in demand for competitive wages and better staffing levels on Wednesday, March 9th. Negotiations between St. Louis based Ascension Living’s management and union workers broke down over economic issues this week. The nursing home workers are represented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
In 2019, 1199 filed a class action grievance against forty-two home care agencies on behalf of current and former bargaining unit members represented by 1199. The grievance alleged that employers violated their CBAs and state and federal wage and hour laws, including by not always paying for interruptions to sleep and meal times on 24-hour cases, not paying overtime under federal law between January 2015 and October 2015, and not paying travel time prior to 2015. Under the CBA, the grievance proceeded to mediation and then
arbitration. Pursuant to the CBA, the Arbitrator must apply applicable state and federal law.