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UNITY means VICTORY for Agency on Aging Workers!
Over 80 care managers and support staff with the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut have officially formed their union with SEIU District 1199.
Over 80 care managers and support staff with the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut have officially formed their union with SEIU District 1199.
Approximately 165 workers from striking HealthBridge facilities across Connecticut, their New Jersey colleagues and NYU students held a massive rally outside the company’s headquarters on Thursday to deliver a petition calling on the company to bargain fairly with its employees for a contract that puts patient care before profits.
Under a new agreement between the union and the state Department of Developmental Disabilities, five 1199 members from Southbury Training School will follow their residents to a new home in Hamden.
In its latest charges against HealthBridge, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ordered the company to “immediately reinstate the unfair labor practice strikers to their former positions, and to reimburse all unfair labor practice strikes for the lost wages and benefits incurred since July 3,” the day on which nearly 700 Connecticut nurses, aides and nursing home support staff went out on strike.
Caregivers at West River Health Care Center in Milford have been striking in the presence of a newfound feline friend who has become a daily fixture on the picket lines. “Scabby” was with caregivers last winter when their employer, HealthBridge Management, illegally locked out workers in the freezing cold. Now the loyal cat has returned to lend his support once again to those striking against HealthBridge’s unlawful implementation of deep cuts to their pay and benefits.
More than 275 direct support professionals at the Mentor Network, REM Connecticut Community Services have formed their union with SEIU District 1199. Votes were counted on August 1, and the
1199 caregivers at five HealthBridge nursing homes in Connecticut began strikes on July 3 over unfair labor practices after the company unlawfully ended negotiations and unilaterally implemented what it claimed was its “last, best and final” offer.
Family members have been noticing a decrease in the quality of care at HealthBridge nursing homes since a strike involving more than 600 caregivers began earlier this month. New workers were quickly hired as replacements, but have struggled to provide the same care and services as their normal caregivers, according to family members of residents in Danbury and Milford.
HealthBridge caregivers gathered in New York City on Wednesday to visit the Straus Institute at NYU Law School, endowed with millions by HealthBridge principal Daniel Straus while his company cuts $30 million in wages and benefits for Connecticut caregivers over the next six years.
In the first of an expected series of decisions on multiple National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Complaints against HealthBridge Management, a Judge has ruled that the nursing home corporation violated federal labor law by “interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees.”