"Working people applaud the New York Times editorial board for their strong, ongoing support for a $15 minimum wage. Over three million New Yorkers, including nurse assistants, homecare workers, childcare workers, security guards, adjunct professors and airport workers would benefit from raising the minimum wage. The $15 minimum wage would boost the economy and reduce low-wage workers' reliance on public assistance. But this is not only about improving the economy, it is also about the moral character of New York and what kind of state we want to be. We need to ensure dignity, security, and opportunity for all working families. By raising the wage here in New York, we can lead the entire nation toward a more just future where hard work is rewarded with fair pay. Working New Yorkers call on the state legislature to take bold moral action and pass the $15 minimum wage by April 1."
-George Gresham, Chair of the Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice and President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.
Read the full editorial here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/opinion/a-15-minimum-wage-for-new-york.html?_r=0
News Feed
1199SEIU, Community Organizations, Elected Officials gather at Seabreeze Amusement Park to activate healthcare workers in effort to protect healthcare funding in the upcoming general election Read More
The Buffalo Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, area Labor Unions, and Erie County Legislator Lawrence Dupre will host a day-long back-to-school event to help local children prepare for the school year and connect community members with Union job opportunities Read More
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) asked the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to put Covenant House New York’s (“Covenant House”) appeal of a 2025 injunction on hold while it seeks contempt damages for Covenant House’s “contumacious violations” of the injunction. Read More
Tampa Bay working families need a strong supportive voice in the Florida Senate, and they will continue to have one with a dedicated leader and champion of the people Michele Rayner. The members of 1199SEIU, the state’s largest union of healthcare workers, enthusiastically endorse her in for State Senate District 16. Read More
Bedside hospital caregivers, service, and campus workers set to bargain new contract as more workers demand union rights and representation at
Upstate’s largest employer Read More
Changes in working conditions and staffing levels spur hundreds of nurses to unionize Read More
With Floridians facing an unprecedented affordability crisis, members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East have endorsed local, state and federal candidates in the 2026 primary election who have pledged to fight for working families. Read More
PCAs negotiated a two-year contract that invests in caregivers and those we care for Read More
1199SEIU unequivocally stands against the federal government weaponizing the justice system to intimidate healthcare providers to stop providing life-saving gender affirming healthcare. Read More
Nation’s Largest Healthcare Union w/300,000 NY Members Supports Gov. for Reelection
Read More
New York, NY–After hours of round-the-clock bargaining, a tentative agreement covering 86,000 healthcare workers across downstate NY was reached at 5:30 a.m. this morning between 1199SEIU and the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes of New York (“the League”). Read More
Dozens of Bargaining Committee members from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East have shared how the affordability crisis in Florida is impacting healthcare workers, as well as serious concerns with AI overreach, in multiple rounds of contract negotiations since they began April 2 with 19 HCA hospitals across the state. Read More
1199SEIU members stood with a diverse group of New Yorkers and elected leaders to condemn the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decision ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 330,000 Haitian and Syrian nationals. Read More
After a co-worker was pricked with a “live” needle at Florida Medical Center (FMC) in Fort Lauderdale, numerous members of 1199SEIU signed onto a grievance that resulted in the delivery of proper equipment and a safer workplace. Read More
Longtime union leader DeQuasia Canales has always been fully dedicated to improving the workplaces and lives of members all across the country, from her early days as a social worker and union steward to organizing union workers across the country, and now serving today as the Acting Executive Vice President for the Florida region of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. Read More
Led by the 1199SEIU Nurse Council, groups of RNs and LPNs recently gathered at three in-person nurse meet-ups in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties to build connections and foster leadership, engagement and power in their workplaces in 2026. Read More
New York State Department of Health Abruptly Approves Plan To Close Facility Leaving Rural Caregivers Distraught Read More
Defining our next chapter as a powerhouse Union Read More
With affordable health care under assault from the extremist Republican administration’s billionaire tax cuts, 1199ers are fighting back and calling on their state governments to plug the funding gap.
Read More