Today we welcome more than 700 new members from four different health systems into the 1199SEIU family.

The 412 Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Social Workers, Business Associates, Medical Assistants, Physicians Assistants, Outreach workers and many more at Morris Heights Health Center in the Bronx voted by roughly five to one to join 1199.

Atim Oton, who works as an LPN at Morris Heights said: “I voted for 1199 because we never had a voice. I have been here for three years and management kept making changes to the day-to-day workflow with no input from front-line staff. It was just trial and error over and over again.

“Now we know we will be heard. Also, we are planning to negotiate better tuition reimbursement and child care benefits as well as wage increases.”

Desire Outlaw is a Nurse Practioner at Morris Heights. She said: “I was an 1199 member when I worked at Beth Israel hospital, so I already knew about the benefits. When I started working at Morris Heights just over a year ago, I heard complaints about unfair treatment and pay. So I spoke to a colleague and he called 1199 to tell them we needed a union.

“One of the issues we have here is floating. When a colleague is out the same people are asked to float into their department over and over again. We need to negotiate a schedule so that this task is shared out more fairly.”

A further 250 imaging technologists at Northwell Health Systems sites across Long Island voted yes by three to one to join our union.

At Jamaica Hospital in Queens, there were an additional 18 healthcare workers at Care Transition unit who voted unanimously to join.

In Buffalo, New York, another 100 workers at a new Pediatric Ambulatory Center joined their 1199SEIU colleagues who already bargain collectively at Kaleida Health.

By providing compassionate and professional care to people across New York State, our new colleagues embody the spirit of the 1199 local.

1199SEIU is the largest healthcare worker’s union in the US, with more than 400,000 members in five states along the Eastern seaboard. We are one of the fastest growing unions in the country.

As well as having a larger say in their working lives, the newest members at HRH voted to join our union to enable them to negotiate for 1199’s child care, job security, affordable quality healthcare and educational benefits.