McCaw sent the letters to the Service Employees International Union’s District 1199 New England, which represents about 5,000 nursing home workers in Connecticut, and the presidents of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities and LeadingAge Connecticut, which represent nursing homes and other health care facilities around the state.
There was no immediate response from the union or the two industry groups.
The Lamont administration’s proposed funding package also includes a temporary 10% Medicaid rate increase from July 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, totaling $85.8 million. In addition, the state would increase funding by $19.5 million for pension enhancements for workers, $13 million for worker training and $12.5 million for hazard pay for workers.
Updated on May 11, 2021 at 5:18 pm
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The state has requested help from the Connecticut National Guard in the event that workers strike as planned starting at the end of this week.
More than 3,400 workers at 33 Connecticut nursing homes are ready to strike beginning Friday if demands for better wages, benefits and staffing ratios aren’t met. Union officials said Monday that 600 additional workers at another six nursing homes have voted to strike beginning May 28. Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.
If the strike occurs, National Guard members would be in place to act as monitors for the standard of care and to support the Department of Public Health. They would not be working in place of nursing home staff.
Report finds failures at Connecticut nursing homes as strikes loom
Dave Collins
The report also accuses nursing home owners of failing to follow federal guidance on the use of protective equipment and having inadequate infection control, testing and quarantine procedures during the pandemic. It alleges state officials haven t done enough to oversee nursing homes and hold them accountable.
The report, titled We Were Abandoned: How Connecticut Failed Nursing Home Workers and Residents During The COVID-19 Pandemic, was written by Yale Law School students for the Service Employees International Union s District 1199 New England, which represents about 5,000 nursing home workers in Connecticut. Students in Yale s Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic surveyed employees and reviewed state regulatory documents for the report.
Yale: Nursing home workers faced difficult work conditions during pandemic
Mary E. O’Leary
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The Sterling Law Building photographed on October 2, 2018 houses the Yale Law School in New Haven.Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut MediaShow MoreShow Less
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Images from Yale Law School in New Haven.Edward Stannard / Hearst Connecticut MediaShow MoreShow Less
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NEW HAVEN Understaffing, lack of protective clothing and COVID testing, low wages and little state accountability are among the findings in a report on the working conditions at nursing homes during the pandemic.
The Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School issued the document Monday on behalf of SEIU District 1199 New England as the nursing home industry has been put on notice of a potential strike by some 3,300 workers starting this week.
Lamont offers $280M to nursing homes, workers to avert strike
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Gov. Ned Lamont greets Jeanne Peters, 95, a rehab patient at The Reservoir, a nursing facility in West Hartford, after she was given the first COVID-19 vaccination at the nursing home Friday, Dec. 18, 2020. The home, owned by Genesis HealthCare, is among those where a strike has been authorized.Stephen Dunn / Associated PressShow MoreShow Less
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Gov. Ned Lamont is offering up an additional $150 million in Medicaid funding to the nursing home industry, an increase of 4.5 percent for wage increases for workers in each of the next two years, in hopes of quelling the impending strike of thousands of employees Friday morning.