For years, caregivers who work for Washington, DC healthcare contractor VMT have warned of its cynical commitment to profits over patients. Now there’s explosive new evidence in a report from the D.C. Inspector General (IG) that VMT CEO Solanges Vivens has personally pocketed millions of dollars while paying caregivers poverty wages.VMT runs the D.C.-owned J.B. Johnson nursing home, where workers voted 165-0 to join 1199SEIU in February 2010 but are still being denied a fair contract. In negotiations, VMT and Vivens have refused to offer workers any raises and have pressed for a variety of take backs. VMT claims it simply doesn’t have the money for improvements.But the IG report shows that back in 2008 VMT made a similar claim when it was caught withholding benefits from workers at another D.C.-owned nursing home. In a letter to the city, VMT said it would be “driven into ruin” if it had to make good on the $1.7 million in benefits it owed to workers at Washington Center for Aging Services. And yet in that same year, VMT paid out $1.8 million to its one stockholder, CEO Solanges Vivens.From 2004 to 2008, the IG report found that VMT paid out $3.5 million to Vivens in her capacity as the firm’s lone shareholder. VMT is not a sprawling multinational. It is a small D.C. firm that derives a large share of its revenues from the District.The IG determined that VMT has misspent $2.7 million of D.C. funds in recent years — including $181,000 it funneled to union-busting attorneys to fight caregivers working to unite in 1199.The Washington City Paper has picked up on the VMT scandal, and its October 5 article included powerful stories from J.B. Johnson nursing assistants Bernice Blacknell and David Hickman about the problems they have been trying to fix at the home.Blacknell explained how she dips into her own paycheck to buy soap, lotion and other personal supplies for residents because VMT skimps on the products it provides. Hickman talked about persistent short-staffing at J.B. Johnson, saying, “I have a buddy who works at the dog pound. … He has more time to work for dogs than I have to work for human beings.”And J.B. Johnson caregivers aren’t the only 1199ers who’ve been struggling to improve conditions for VMT patients. Workers at VMT’s D.C.-funded home health agency voted to join 1199 in 2008, but they too have been denied a fair contract. In 2009, workers at the Washington Center for Aging Services united in 1199. They are finally making progress in negotiations because VMT lost the contract to run the facility last year and an employer without VMT’s troubled history has taken over.Although the city recently gave VMT a long-term lease to run J.B. Johnson, that lease stipulates that the “tenant shall…employ reputable business practices.” Given the pattern of behavior documented in the IG report, there are clear grounds for the city to revoke VMT’s lease and to rebid the contract.The D.C. Committee on Aging is holding a special hearing about the many problems at VMT and J.B. Johnson on Monday, October 17 at 2 pm. Then, at 4 pm, J.B. Johnson workers and 1199ers from across the Maryland/D.C. region will rally outside the District’s Wilson Municipal Building.If you’re in the D.C. area on October 17, come downtown and help win justice for J.B. Johnson workers!To learn more about the problems at VMT, go to www.VMTwatch.org.- See more at: http://www.1199seiu.org/anti_worker_boss_in_washington_d_c_rocked_by_scandal_dcregion#sthash.OJeR0Byw.dpuf