MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2013
Contact: Jeff Hall, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
617-281-8384, jeff.hall@1199.org, Twitter: @1199mass
TODAY: Nursing home workers will picket New Bedford facility
Caregivers also launch radio campaign as Brandon Woods owner pushes poverty wages and training cuts
NEW BEDFORD – Caregivers employed by Brandon Woods Nursing Home of New Bedford, MA will be protesting on Friday outside the 135-bed facility at 397 County Street in response to poverty wages and recent attempts by nursing home bosses to cut training and educational programs.
After years of living on wages that have driven caregivers into poverty, employees of Brandon Woods are taking their cause public through Friday’s protest and a series of radio advertisements. Workers are calling on nursing home boss Frank Romano to provide fair wages and to maintain funding for vital training programs at the facility.
“Frank Romano just doesn’t get it. The Romano family, owners of Essex Nursing Homes, including Brandon Woods of New Bedford, makes more than $50 million in combined revenue, but claim they can’t afford to pay frontline caregivers a living wage,” reads the advertisement airing currently on New Bedford area stations WFHN and WBSM. An mp3 of the advertisement is available at www.JusticeAtEssex.org.
Romano has also come under fire recently for stacking his executive payroll with multiple family members while workers make impossible choices between groceries and rent.
Romano operates six nursing homes across the state, including Brandon Woods of New Bedford. More than 80 caregivers at Brandon Woods are members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East – the largest healthcare workers union in Massachusetts.
WHO: Nursing home workers frustrated by poverty wages and threatened cuts to training programs
WHAT: Picket and protest against nursing home owner Frank Romano
WHEN: Friday, August 23, 2013, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
WHERE: Brandon Woods of New Bedford, 397 County St, New Bedford, MA
FOR FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2013
Contact: Jeff Hall, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
617-281-8384, jeff.hall@1199.org, Twitter: @1199mass
TODAY: Nursing home workers will picket New Bedford facility
Caregivers also launch radio campaign as Brandon Woods owner pushes poverty wages and training cuts
NEW BEDFORD – Caregivers employed by Brandon Woods Nursing Home of New Bedford, MA will be protesting on Friday outside the 135-bed facility at 397 County Street in response to poverty wages and recent attempts by nursing home bosses to cut training and educational programs.
After years of living on wages that have driven caregivers into poverty, employees of Brandon Woods are taking their cause public through Friday’s protest and a series of radio advertisements. Workers are calling on nursing home boss Frank Romano to provide fair wages and to maintain funding for vital training programs at the facility.
“Frank Romano just doesn’t get it. The Romano family, owners of Essex Nursing Homes, including Brandon Woods of New Bedford, makes more than $50 million in combined revenue, but claim they can’t afford to pay frontline caregivers a living wage,” reads the advertisement airing currently on New Bedford area stations WFHN and WBSM. An mp3 of the advertisement is available at www.JusticeAtEssex.org.
Romano has also come under fire recently for stacking his executive payroll with multiple family members while workers make impossible choices between groceries and rent.
Romano operates six nursing homes across the state, including Brandon Woods of New Bedford. More than 80 caregivers at Brandon Woods are members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East – the largest healthcare workers union in Massachusetts.
WHO: Nursing home workers frustrated by poverty wages and threatened cuts to training programs
WHAT: Picket and protest against nursing home owner Frank Romano
WHEN: Friday, August 23, 2013, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
WHERE: Brandon Woods of New Bedford, 397 County St, New Bedford, MA
