FRIDAY, MAY 29, 3:00 P.M., 359 BOYLSTON STREET: Elected officials and advocates to march on Medical Resources Home Health Corp. to demand public funds be spent on services for seniors
BOSTON, MA – Healthcare workers at Medical Resources Home Health Corp. are raising new concerns today about management tactics that undermine patient care and misuse taxpayer dollars.
Owned by one of the largest private equity firms in the nation with more than $25 billion in assets (Angelo, Gordon, & Co.), Medical Resources pays poverty wages to caregivers charged with the health and well-being of hundreds of Boston area seniors and people with disabilities.
The homecare agency has been a long-time purveyor of poverty wages, paying area workers on average $10-$12 per hour while funneling profits to its New York based ownership group. Meanwhile, Medical Resource Home Health Corp. receives $22 per client hour in Massachusetts taxpayer funding.
Many of the nearly 240 workers employed by the agency’s Boylston Street office are eligible for food stamps, subsidized housing, or subsidized health insurance. Tired of living in poverty and inspired by the national Fight for $15 movement, Medical Resources employees filed for a union election in May through the National Labor Relations Board.
In response, Medical Resources executive began channeling thousands of patient care dollars into funding a vicious anti-union campaign led by high-priced consultants from the New York-based law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, LLC. Now, as part of the agency’s campaign to dissuade their low-wage workforce from forming a union, agency management has begun forcing caregivers to skip appointment hours with the seniors and people with disabilities under their care.
“Medical Resources is not only abusing taxpayer dollars and mistreating its workers with these underhanded tactics, but it is threatening hundreds of local clients and their families who rely on this agency for care,” said Veronica Turner, 1199SEIU Executive Vice President. “It’s disturbing that Medical Resources is choosing to invest such extensive time and resources to spread misinformation and intimidate its employees, when it could be investing in better wages and other measures to enhance patient care.”
Beginning Wednesday, May 27, caregivers have been forced to attend captive anti-union sessions at the agency’s Boylston Street headquarters rather than spend scheduled time caring for the seniors and people with disabilities for whom the state pays Medical Resources to provide homecare services.
Workers say Medical Resources executives have already violated federal labor law through their tactics, which include threats and intimidation against the caregiving workforce which is comprised almost entirely of women of color. So far, workers have held off on filing federal charges because they do not want to delay their union vote, which is scheduled to begin by mail ballot on Monday, June 15. Workers say delaying the vote would give management more time to spread misinformation and intimidate caregivers.
On Friday afternoon, elected officials including Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim – whose district includes the Medical Resources office – will join a delegation of healthcare advocates and community allies who will march on Medical Resources’ Back Bay offices to tell agency executives to stop diverting taxpayer dollars away from caregiving services for the purpose of waging an anti-union campaign that violates federal labor law.
WHO: Elected officials, healthcare advocates, community allies
WHAT: March on Medical Resources’ Back Bay offices to tell agency executives to stop diverting taxpayer dollars for senior services into anti-worker campaigns
WHERE: Medical Resources Home Health Corp., 359 Boylston Street, Back Bay
WHEN: Friday, May 29, 2015
TIME: 3:00 p.m. EST
“It’s unconscionable that caregivers have to choose between paying rent and buying groceries because they are paid poverty wages by Medical Resources,” added Turner. “Seniors deserve better from an agency that receives substantial government funding to care for their health and wellbeing.”
Medical Resources Home Health Corp. has more than 400 employees around the Commonwealth, with offices in Boston, Newton, Easton, Dartmouth, Leominster, Worcester, Chicopee and Bellingham.
Some of the top officials of Angelo, Gordon, & Co. include President Lawrence Schloss, who ran New York City’s pension and retirement system, and Chief Investment Officer Michael Gordon, a trustee at Colby College. A recent report from the National Employment Law Project highlights how widespread poverty among homecare employees, which are among the lowest paid workers in the nation, is undermining care.
# # #
Representing more than 52,000 healthcare workers throughout Massachusetts and nearly 400,000 workers across the East Coast, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. Our mission is to achieve affordable, high quality healthcare for all. 1199SEIU is part of the 2.1 million member Service Employees International Union.
BOSTON, MA – Healthcare workers at Medical Resources Home Health Corp. are raising new concerns today about management tactics that undermine patient care and misuse taxpayer dollars.
Owned by one of the largest private equity firms in the nation with more than $25 billion in assets (Angelo, Gordon, & Co.), Medical Resources pays poverty wages to caregivers charged with the health and well-being of hundreds of Boston area seniors and people with disabilities.
The homecare agency has been a long-time purveyor of poverty wages, paying area workers on average $10-$12 per hour while funneling profits to its New York based ownership group. Meanwhile, Medical Resource Home Health Corp. receives $22 per client hour in Massachusetts taxpayer funding.
Many of the nearly 240 workers employed by the agency’s Boylston Street office are eligible for food stamps, subsidized housing, or subsidized health insurance. Tired of living in poverty and inspired by the national Fight for $15 movement, Medical Resources employees filed for a union election in May through the National Labor Relations Board.
In response, Medical Resources executive began channeling thousands of patient care dollars into funding a vicious anti-union campaign led by high-priced consultants from the New York-based law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, LLC. Now, as part of the agency’s campaign to dissuade their low-wage workforce from forming a union, agency management has begun forcing caregivers to skip appointment hours with the seniors and people with disabilities under their care.
“Medical Resources is not only abusing taxpayer dollars and mistreating its workers with these underhanded tactics, but it is threatening hundreds of local clients and their families who rely on this agency for care,” said Veronica Turner, 1199SEIU Executive Vice President. “It’s disturbing that Medical Resources is choosing to invest such extensive time and resources to spread misinformation and intimidate its employees, when it could be investing in better wages and other measures to enhance patient care.”
Beginning Wednesday, May 27, caregivers have been forced to attend captive anti-union sessions at the agency’s Boylston Street headquarters rather than spend scheduled time caring for the seniors and people with disabilities for whom the state pays Medical Resources to provide homecare services.
Workers say Medical Resources executives have already violated federal labor law through their tactics, which include threats and intimidation against the caregiving workforce which is comprised almost entirely of women of color. So far, workers have held off on filing federal charges because they do not want to delay their union vote, which is scheduled to begin by mail ballot on Monday, June 15. Workers say delaying the vote would give management more time to spread misinformation and intimidate caregivers.
On Friday afternoon, elected officials including Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim – whose district includes the Medical Resources office – will join a delegation of healthcare advocates and community allies who will march on Medical Resources’ Back Bay offices to tell agency executives to stop diverting taxpayer dollars away from caregiving services for the purpose of waging an anti-union campaign that violates federal labor law.
WHO: Elected officials, healthcare advocates, community allies
WHAT: March on Medical Resources’ Back Bay offices to tell agency executives to stop diverting taxpayer dollars for senior services into anti-worker campaigns
WHERE: Medical Resources Home Health Corp., 359 Boylston Street, Back Bay
WHEN: Friday, May 29, 2015
TIME: 3:00 p.m. EST
“It’s unconscionable that caregivers have to choose between paying rent and buying groceries because they are paid poverty wages by Medical Resources,” added Turner. “Seniors deserve better from an agency that receives substantial government funding to care for their health and wellbeing.”
Medical Resources Home Health Corp. has more than 400 employees around the Commonwealth, with offices in Boston, Newton, Easton, Dartmouth, Leominster, Worcester, Chicopee and Bellingham.
Some of the top officials of Angelo, Gordon, & Co. include President Lawrence Schloss, who ran New York City’s pension and retirement system, and Chief Investment Officer Michael Gordon, a trustee at Colby College. A recent report from the National Employment Law Project highlights how widespread poverty among homecare employees, which are among the lowest paid workers in the nation, is undermining care.
# # #
Representing more than 52,000 healthcare workers throughout Massachusetts and nearly 400,000 workers across the East Coast, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. Our mission is to achieve affordable, high quality healthcare for all. 1199SEIU is part of the 2.1 million member Service Employees International Union.
