NJ Nursing Home Workers Stand Strong for Good Jobs and Health Care

June 13, 2014

June got off to a busy start for 1199ers in New Jersey as hundreds of caregivers at five nursing homes held informational pickets to speak out for fair union contracts that protect and improve standards for quality nursing care and good jobs.

“We’re asking for modest wage increases, a pension plan that we can rely on when we retire, and affordable health insurance for our families,” explained Denise Boyden, a bargaining committee member from Alaris Health at Harborview who has worked as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) for 30 years. “If we’re not healthy, how can we help others?”

1199SEIU members at the five nursing homes, three of which are owned by Alaris Health and two which are owned by Atrium Health Group, are working under expired contracts and are especially concerned by their employers’ failure to offer affordable family healthcare and fair wage increases. As a result, many workers say that they’ve had no choice but to go on public assistance just to keep their families healthy.

“I had to enroll three of my children in NJ FamilyCare (Medicaid) because I can’t afford the hundreds of dollars in monthly premiums to get family coverage,” said Devika Smith, a CNA at Alaris Health at Castle Hill who walked the picket line with her coworkers on June 2. “We are the people who other families entrust to care for their loved ones, and we need to be able to do the same for our own.”

Mercelie Antoine, who works at Atrium’s Victoria Healthcare Center, echoed this sentiment. “My 5-year-old and 14-year-old children are on Medicaid because family health insurance is too expensive. I want to work and be happy about my job, but it’s hard when we aren’t treated the way we should be.”

For Rebecca Johnson, a housekeeper at Atrium’s Pavilions at Forrestal, concerns about rising costs of living spurred her to take action and on June 6. “I make $10 an hour and haven’t seen a raise in nearly a decade. It has been so hard living on the same pay all these years, sometimes I have to borrow money for gas just so I can get to work.”

“It’s time for a change,” said Jamir Gaston, a dietary at Alaris Health at Rochelle Park. “Everything is getting more expensive these days—from rent, to health care, to food. We all need to stick together to win something better for ourselves and our families!”