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

Every employee expects a grace period when they first start a new job. No one expects that a new employee should be operating with the same speed and precision as someone who has worked in an institution for 30 years.

It is said that: “The race is not given to the swift or to the strong, but to the one who endures to the end.” This has rarely been more apt than when 33,000 members from 249 nursing homes in the greater New York metropolitan area reached a contract agreement with their employers on the brink of the first large scale 1199SEIU strike in more than three decades.

On October 26 and 27, 1199 members at Nuvance / Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, and Nuvance/Putnam Hospital in Carmel, NY, voted overwhelmingly to ratify their one-year contracts after a long, hard fight with the new owners, Nuvance Health.

The holiday season is upon us. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Eid Al-Fitr, or none of the above, this time of the year is a season of giving, of peace and love.

The willingness to stand up for ourselves and our co-workers up to and including withholding our labor when necessary–no matter how long our odds of winning seem to be–is the hallmark of 1199SEIU membership and has been from the very beginning.

Getzville, NY – More than 200 nursing home workers at Weinberg Campus in Getzville are celebrating a big victory this holiday season instead of picketing. Workers were able to reach a two-year agreement with Weinberg Campus late last Monday, December 13 narrowly avoiding an informational picket that was scheduled for Wednesday, December 15. Instead of picketing, workers held a ratification vote to review details of the agreement and to cast their ballots to overwhelmingly ratify the two-year deal that includes significant wage increases with a new wage scale for experience, improved pension contributions, higher starting rates, additional paid Juneteenth holiday, and more. Caregivers are represented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.

Consulate Health Care workers have many reasons to cheer after ratifying a new contract. Thanks to a strong and unified bargaining team, Consulate workers will receive annual pay raises, higher minimum starting rates, hazard pay, an eight-hour workday and successorship language to protect them if their facility is sold.

Now It’s the Senate’s Turn to Pass Build Back Better! Last month we traveled to DC to call on the House to pass Build Back Better. Now it’s the Senate’s turn.

Last month we traveled to DC to call on the House to pass Build Back Better. Now it’s the Senate’s turn.