1199SEIU Members at Fiddlers Green Manor Nursing Home Win First Contract and Raise Standards!

September 18, 2015

After months of difficult bargaining, spirited picketing and a strike vote, the 1199SEIU nursing home workers at Fiddlers Green Manor in Springville, N.Y. voted with enthusiasm to ratify their first collective bargaining agreement.



“This contract is a great first step in our effort to raise standards for nursing home workers. Good jobs—decent wages and fair working conditions—mean quality care for the residents and that’s what these negotiations have been about,” said 1199SEIU organizer Kim Gibson, who was at the table for all of the bargaining sessions.



Before the contract was settled, negotiating committee member Janine Lemke said that continuity of care was at risk when “people were being stretched to their limits and looking for other jobs.” Many of the contract provisions address that issue and go a long way in creating better working conditions and a fair workplace. For the first time, the Fiddlers Green workers will have a legally binding grievance procedure to level the playing field when problems need to be resolved. New limits on both mandatory overtime and outsourcing will serve to relieve stressful working conditions and protect jobs.



The agreement includes higher wages and raises, rewards for longevity, shift bonuses and improved holiday pay. Health insurance will be more affordable for members and their families. By the end of the contract, the workers will have the Greater New York Training Fund, an important education and training benefit that will be a critical resource in the rapidly changing healthcare industry. Part-time workers will also see improvements in benefits.



The bargaining unit is currently made up of approximately seventy-five L.P.N.s, C.N.A.s, activities aides, housekeeping, dietary and maintenance workers and unit clerks. They voted to become union members earlier this year on January 30 and were certified by the NLRB on February 10. Until last week, the committee had been negotiating for 7 months without a settlement in sight. The members voted to empower the bargaining committee to issue a strike notice, if no progress was made at the following session. However, a tentative agreement was reached on September 10, averting a strike. The contract was ratified on September 14.



Fiddlers Green Manor Nursing Home in upstate Western New York was purchased by a group of downstate for-profit investors in a sale that was approved in October 2013, after the previous owner declared bankruptcy. The purchase of upstate NY nursing homes by downstate private investors and corporations appears to be a trend in the industry.