Union warns nursing homes that thousands of workers are prepared to strike ctpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ctpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Yehyun Kim :: ctmirror.org
Kara O’Dwyer, center, and other protestors with health care union SEIU 1199 New England gathered in April to ask for better treatment of nursing home, long-term care, home care, group home workers, including health insurance, better wages and proper PPE.
The state’s largest health care workers’ union warned 33 nursing homes that about 3,400 of its members are poised to strike in two weeks.
The strike notices, served on facilities owned by RegalCare, Genesis HealthCare, Autumn Lake Healthcare and iCare Management chains, could be the beginning of a larger work stoppage this spring.
But a strike notice does not guarantee employees will walk off the job on May 14. And if there is a work stoppage, it could be indefinite or it could be a fixed period, such as one or two days.
Nursing home strikes loom large in CT as strike votes underway
By Keith M. Phaneuf
Connecticut continues to slide closer to a major nursing home strike with initial union votes at 33 facilities overwhelmingly favoring a strike, and balloting at 11 more homes scheduled to begin shortly after May 1.
Rob Baril, president of SEIU District 1199 New England which represents about 5,000 nursing home workers in the state said his members “have been stretched beyond their breaking points” by the health and economic risks of the coronavirus pandemic.
Baril provided the strike vote update one week after state and nursing home leaders disclosed they’d begun contingency planning to guard against a major work stoppage at congregate care facilities.