FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: April Ezzell, 1199SEIU Communications, (716)449‐1620

Interview Opportunity

Service Workers Earning Less Than $15 An Hour Demand Better Pay

WHO: Nursing Home Workers

WHAT: Informational Picket

WHEN: Thursday, May 12, 2022 from 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
2:30 PM Press Conference

WHERE: Elderwood at Williamsville, 200 Bassett Road, Williamsville, NY 14221

WHY: More than 70 nursing home workers hit hard during COVID-19 and critical short staffing are fighting for fair wages and a union contract. The 1-year contract extension for Service & Maintenance workers expired October 31, 2021 and the Licensed Practical Nurse contract expired December 31, 2021. Nursing home workers at Elderwood at Williamsville are represented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and have been bargaining with management for a new labor contract since early October of last year.

Recruitment and retention of caregivers has put both sides at odds. Caregivers say that staffing levels are critical because of low wages.

“We are short staffed and it’s terrible,” says James Funderburk, Environmental Services Worker. “I have seen times when there is only one aide on an entire floor by themselves.”

I’ve never seen it like this and I’ve been here for 9 years, says Lauren Hawkins, Licensed Practical Nurse. I’ve never seen it this understaffed. There are no regular staff here because we aren’t paying enough money to the employees that we have. They have left and the building is filled with agency workers. They said they want to get regular staff in here but they aren’t offering enough money for new hires to come work here. We need help,” says Hawkins.

Elderwood is a for-profit, out-of-town company with more than 50 nursing homes and care facilities across New York State, Vermont and Rhode Island¹. Elderwood is refusing to pay workers at a rate that is close to the area standards set at other nursing homes². Yet in 2020, Elderwood reported more than $3.7 million dollars in related party or non-arms length transactions, such as rent, real estate, administrative and pharmaceutical costs to companies owners are invested in.³ Between 2018-2020, Elderwood at Williamsville withdrew more than $3.5 million dollars in equity,⁴ yet most service workers make much less than $15 per hour for the essential work they provide at the area nursing home.

Elderwood’s staffing crisis is not just a local problem. Of the 15 Elderwood facilities located across New York State, 12 facilities report higher than 50% turnover rates amongst staff. ⁵ At least six of the same 15 facilities have low staffing ratios according to US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.⁶ Workers at Elderwood’s facility in Lockport also face the same struggle. Workers say short staffing is also a problem. “They are multi-millionaires and don’t want to give us any money,” says Marcie Livergood,” Licensed Practical Nurse at the Lockport facility. “The residents are the ones who are suffering,” says Livergood. The contract covering more than 50 workers at Elderwood at Lockport expired December 31, 2021.

For-profit Elderwood made an attempt to add Weinberg Campus to their portfolio. Elderwood planned to purchase Weinberg Campus in Getzville⁷, 8 but that deal fell through around the same time that union workers at Weinberg Campus won some of the highest wage rates in the area.

Unionized caregivers at the facility in Williamsville work as Licensed Practical Nurses, Certified Nurse Assistants, Maintenance Workers, Dietary Aides, and Housekeeping Aides.

On Background:

For more details on related party transactions, please refer to this news article.⁹ In 2018, Elderwood owners withdrew more than $11.8 million dollars in equity from that facility rather than investing in workers.¹⁰

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¹ Our Companies | Elderwood

² Buffalo nursing home picket turns into celebration of new contract, pay raises | WBFO

³ NYS Department of Health, Residential Health Care Facility Cost Reports (2020), Elderwood at Williamsville (Opcert #1421307) and Elderwood at Lockport (Opcert #3101308)

⁴ NYS DOH, 2018-2020 RHCF Cost Reports, search on 15 Elderwood Facilities, at Exhibit B, Statement of Changes in Fund Balances, Equity or Net Assets, at Unrestricted Withdrawals of Equity (column 1806, line 16).

⁵ U.S Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Nursing Home Provider Information, available online at: https://data.cms.gov/provider-data/dataset/4pq5-n9py

⁶ U.S Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Nursing Home Provider Information, available online at: https://data.cms.gov/provider-data/dataset/4pq5-n9pyhttps://data.cms.gov/provider-data/dataset/4pq5-n9py

⁷ What's next for Weinberg Campus in Amherst? | Business Local | buffalonews.com

⁸ How Weinberg Campus plans to remain a nonprofit senior care provider after terminated sale | WBFO

⁹ Nursing homes will soon have to report deals with 'non-arms length' companies | Local News | buffalonews.com

¹⁰ NYS DOH, 2018 RHCF Cost Reports, Elderwood at Lancaster (operating certificate # 1406303), at Exhibit B, Statement of Changes in Fund Balances, Equity or Net Assets, at Unrestricted Withdrawals of Equity (column 1806, line 16).