Today: NJ Nursing Home Workers to Picket in Demand of Better, Safer Jobs 

Amid pandemic, caregivers will call for adequate staffing, hazard pay, health insurance and PPE by holding (socially distant) pickets at two nursing homes. The actions coincide with the national Strike for Black Lives. 

What: 

At Complete Care at Green Knoll in Bridgewater Township and Alameda Center in Perth Amboy, nursing home workers, members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, will hold pickets outside of their facilities to demand basic improvements to their jobs and a stop to unfair labor practices.  Workers will maintain social distancing and wear masks. 

Who: 

Frontline caregivers, members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, who are employed as certified nursing aides (CNAs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), housekeepers, dietary aides, among others. 

Why: 

At Green Knoll, when Complete Care took over operations at the nursing home in February 2019, company executives made sweeping cuts to workers’ health insurance, retirement, and other benefits.  Many workers who had depended on employer-provided health coverage could no longer afford it; others who maintained coverage say it is severely lacking. 

Now, despite the coronavirus pandemic which has sickened many workers at the facility, Complete Care again took the ax to workers’ benefits by announcing that effective July 1, 2020, workers are required to pay significantly more for their health care.  The employee share of premiums for family health coverage was doubled to over $11,000 per year, an amount totally out of reach for the low-wage workforce.  Single coverage likewise saw a dramatic cost increase. In late June, Green Knoll workers delivered a petition signed by over 50 employees imploring the company to reverse the announced changes.  Management refused, and now workers will picket. 

“I gave birth to my daughter earlier this year, and every week I get more bills that my insurance didn’t cover,” said Rachelle Washington, a CNA at Green Knoll.  “Now I’m thousands of dollars in debt.  To make matters worse, Complete Care cut my hours.  Our residents have been stuck inside for months without visitors—they need more care and attention from staff, not less.” 

Meanwhile at Alameda Center, the employer unilaterally rescinded hazard pay for most workers despite continued cases of COVID-19 at the facility.  At least seventy-six employees have contracted COVID-19 during the pandemic and two have died of the virus.  Workers are concerned about poor staffing levels, lack of PPE, and the “second class” status of LPNs who are required to pay significantly more for healthcare than other staff.  Licensed practical nurses have been fighting the company for a new union contract for three years. 

“Alameda is still standing because we have nurses who care,” said Mara Santos, an LPN at Alameda Center.  “We get one kn95 mask a week, but we were never even measured for them. It’s so hot in the building, but our gowns are like plastic garbage bags.  Right now, I don’t have health insurance because it’s not worth the cost.  As a veteran, I’m looking to VA benefits to get care for myself and my 10-year-old son.” 

“Nursing home workers, the majority of whom are women of color, are called heroes—and by any measure, they are.  Yet during the worst health crisis in living memory, they have to fight for even the most basic consideration from their employers,” said Milly Silva, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU.  “We are demanding that Green Knoll and Alameda Center nursing homes cease their unfair labor practices and prioritize the safety and livelihood of their staff who put their lives on the line every day.” 

When/Where: 

Monday, July 20 at–

3PM-4PM at Alameda Center 

303 Elm St 

Perth Amboy, NJ 08861 

2:30PM-3:30PM atComplete Care at Green Knoll 

875 US-206 

Bridgewater Township, NJ 08807

Visuals:

Nursing home workers in uniform, chanting and holding signs while keeping social distance.

National context: 

These pickets coincide with the national Strike for Black Lives on July 20, in which thousands of essential workers from coast to coast will demand changes in industries where people of color are disproportionately represented and work in low-wage, dangerous, and exploitative conditions.  On this day, NJ’s nursing home workers will not be striking—but they WILL be taking action during their own time to demand fair treatment from their employers. 

New Jersey’s nursing home workforce, which is majority women of color, has suffered tremendously during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have lost their lives. Workers continue to sacrifice their health and safety to care for their patients, despite poverty wages, unaffordable health insurance, inadequate staffing levels, and lacking basic personal protective equipment. 

Rebuilding our economy and dismantling systemic racism must mean transforming healthcare—our nation’s largest economic pillar—and closing the health and wealth disparities that have accelerated during this pandemic.  

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1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in New Jersey and nationwide. We represent over 16,000 healthcare families in New Jersey and over 450,000 total members throughout New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, and Washington, D.C.   Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.