Statement of Milly Silva, Executive Vice President, on Supreme Court DAPA/DACA decision

“We congratulate NYSNA for the groundbreaking tentative agreements they have achieved at many New York hospitals, and we call on the holdout institutions to follow suit without delay.

Upcoming Massachusetts Trainings and Workshops

The past year has been an especially good one for 1199 home care members in New York State. In February, an arbitrator issued an historic $32 million award covering more than 100,000 current and former 1199SEIU bargaining unit members employed at 42 New York home care agencies. In April, Home Care members in the state won a $3-an-hour increase over minimum wage, amounting to a 20 percent increase.

As the country went into the midterm elections on November 8, the GOP was crowing about an expected “red wave” – counting on voters’ fears around crime and inflation to carry them through.

“I am an entertainer in my soul,” says DJ Ketchup—aka Chaheem Priest, an 1199 Resident Support Worker at Glendale Nursing Home in Schenectady, New York. He’s worked there since 2008, only taking a short hiatus during the height of COVID.

Just one month after marking National Physician Assistants week, a group of 345 Physician Assistants (PAs) at Montefiore Medical Center’s Weiler and Moses campuses voted to join 1199 in November. All the PAs in the Montefiore are now part of the Union family. At the beginning of 2022, the Union welcomed another group of PAs at New York Presbyterian’s Methodist Hospital. As more and more PAs come into the fold, 1199 Magazine caught up with some of them to learn about their valuable contribution to the healthcare system.

More than 6,300 healthcare workers at the largest private hospital system in Western New York won a new three-year contract in October, which includes wage increases of at least 12 percent and improved RN wage scales to help recruit and retain amid the national shortage. With this contract, Kaleida members will maintain their status as the highest paid healthcare workers in the region.

Florida members living and working in the path of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall on September 28, are still reeling from its effects. It was the most deadly hurricane to strike their state since 1935.

In a year when union organizing nationwide saw a dramatic resurgence, thousands of healthcare workers seized the moment to come together with 1199SEIU and build their labor power. At press time, the latest figures from the National Labor Relations Board [NLRB] showed a 53-percent increase in petitions filed for union representation in 2022 compared with the previous year

We dodged disaster in last month’s midterm elections. Despite all the polling and predictions, the GOP “red wave” largely receded and ended up being little more than a dribble. The Republican Party now has far too many members who openly espouse white supremacy, misogyny, contempt for science and for public health to appeal to mainstream voters.