MEDIA RELEASE
December 19, 2018
Concerned Nursing Home Workers To Hold Informational Picket for Quality Care at Schenectady Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation
Workers who care for the community’s elderly and frail are deeply concerned that quality care is suffering under the nursing home’s corporate ownership
What: Informational Picket
When: TOMORROW, Wednesday, December 19, 2018
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Where: Schenectady Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation
526 Altamont Ave, Schenectady
Today, Wednesday, December 19,nursing home caregivers will be picketing at Schenectady Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing. Members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East are holding the informational picket to reveal the corporate owner’s lack of attention to safe staffing, decent wages and benefits—and its impact on quality resident care. They will be outside the facility from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
1199SEIU members at Schenectady, together with four other CHC facilities (at Glens Falls, New Paltz, Troy, and Minoa) have been negotiating a contract for a year. Their proposals are not out of the ordinary; market wage increases, affordable health benefits, and the ability to retire with security are standard in healthcare industry contracts. Workers and management generally agree that these provisions help to attract and retain qualified employees and protect continuity of resident care.
The Schenectady nursing home, formerly known as Capital Living, is a 240-bed, large, skilled nursing facility (SNF) with for-profit, corporate ownership.
It was purchased by Centers Health Care (CHC) in 2017. CHC in New York has been expanding in recent years; currently there are 31 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and five facilities are identified as consultants. The owner pays below area market wages and benefits in each region, which workers believe is the main reason for high staff turnover.
Eloise Downs, a Certified Nursing Assistant (C.N.A.) for more than 30 years said, “Staff turnover is a big problem, but that’s not a surprise when so many workers can’t afford to take care of their own families. What choice is there other than to look for employment somewhere else, when the Centers pays less money than other nursing homes and most other jobs in the area. I’ve never seen it this bad—a revolving door of workers, leaving as soon as they find a better job with decent pay and benefits and a better work environment.”
Last week, the workers in New Paltz picketed that facility and on November 28, the workers in Glens Fall did the same.
“Our residents and their families depend on us to provide quality care and we do that under challenging conditions. It’s the owner’s responsibility to ensure that we have what we need, so we can do our jobs and take care of our own families at the same time,” said Downs “That’s not a lot to ask of a big for-profit company like the Centers.”
The 1199SEIU bargaining unit includes CNAs, LPNs, dietary, housekeeping, laundry, and maintenance workers, recreation aides, and receptionists.
The informational picket is not a strike. Workers will picket on their own time—lunch, breaks, a day off, etc. There will be no work stoppage. Shifts and services will not be interrupted.
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1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. We represent over 400,000 nurses and caregivers throughout New York State and New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.
