In historic month, SEIU-ULTCW Organizes 347 New Nursing Home Employees
Five California nursing homes unite through NLRB elections for better staffing, pay and respect on the job
July 1, 2008
Los Angeles – From May 23 to June 20, 347 employees at five different nursing homes throughout the state voted overwhelmingly in favor of uniting with SEIU Healthcare United Long-Term Care Workers’ Union.
The string of victories – including winning three elections in one week – is the biggest organizing victory in SEIU’s history of unionizing nursing homes through National Labor Relations Board elections.
In coming weeks, workers in all five facilities will sit down with management to negotiate real raises and benefits, better staffing and supplies, and set up guidelines to ensure workers have a true voice on the job.
“We’ve got the power,” said an excited Elena Hall, a CNA at Sharon Care Center, where employees voted 42-1 in favor of forming a union. “We’ve always known that, but now it’s official. We now have a true voice in our nursing home.”
Historically, nursing homes are one of the most difficult industries to organize, said ULTCW President Tyrone Freeman, calling the string of winning elections “monumental.”
“From hiring union busters to threatening to fire workers, in many cases, facility management will do whatever it takes to stop workers from exercising their right to chose whether to unionize,” Freeman said. “But these victories show that with the right dedication of time and resources, ULTCW can make it clear to nursing home workers that they do have the right to join a union if they so choose.”
Blanca Pinedo, a ULTCW Executive Board member and housekeeper at an Inland Empire nursing home, said she has never seen so many nursing home workers win the right to a voice on the job in
such a short time.
“I am filled with joy for these new members,”
Pinedo said. “It shows me what our state-wide union, dedicated to improving
California’s long-term care industry, is capable of as we grow stronger and
focus our efforts on building density in this difficult-to-organize nursing
home sector.”
The facilities organized include Sharon Care
Center, Buena Ventura Care Center and Olympia Convalescent Hospital in Los
Angeles, North Valley Nursing Center in Tujunga, and Sun Bridge Care Center for
Paradise in Paradise, Calif.
Excited members from Olympia Convalescent after winning their first Union election (top), and (bottom) newly organized members from Sharon Care Center give the "thumbs up" after winning their union election.
