Boston, MA
SEIU is facing the unconscionable governmental expenditure of taxpayer funds to break a strike in Connecticut. Four thousand five hundred nurses, certified nursing assistants, laundry, housekeeping, dietary and other health care workers are striking at forty Connecticut nursing homes to increase staff-to-patient ratios in nursing homes, and to improve the quality of care for residents and working conditions for caregivers. Workers are also standing up for fair wages and benefits for the largely female, largely minority workforce that cares for the frailest, most vulnerable, elderly and disabled people in our society.
Connecticut Governor John Rowland has intervened on behalf of the nursing home corporations, assuring them that the state will pay for the entire cost of out-of-state scabs, including wages, transportation, lodging and food. In short, Governor Rowland has appointed himself chief strikebreaker for management.
Nursing homes are privately operated but largely funded—70 to 80 percent on average—by the state through the Medicaid program. Governor Rowland has already given $4.6 million in Medicaid funding to nursing home operators to cover all strike-related expenses for a one-day job action last month—turned by some nursing home corporations into a five-day lockout. He has also promised to cover nursing homes for up to 30 days, with a price tag of $50 million in taxpayer dollars, even though the entire cost of settling contracts at 48 nursing homes for two years would be $26 million.
In addition, the Governor has loudly and publicly refused to allocate funding for a model contract with SunBridge Healthcare at eight nursing homes that would improve patient care, increase staffing to levels recommended by the leading consumer advocacy group for nursing home residents and improve wages and benefits. If the state refuses to fund this contract, SunBridge may withdraw its agreement, and 1,000 more caregivers will join the strike on May 8. Other nursing home operators will not agree to consider this excellent contract because of the Governor's position.
The Governor and the for-profit nursing home lobby have declared this situation "an opportunity to topple the union," and without substantial resources to support the strikers, union workers cannot prevail. Governor Rowland's actions and attitude are a threat and an affront to the entire labor movement. The Executive Council urges the AFL-CIO and its affiliates to take all appropriate action to support and assist SEIU immediately, including the following:
- Call Governor John Rowland at 800-406-1527 or (in Hartford) 860-566-4840
- Call Speaker of the House Moira Lyons at 860-240-0530
- Call Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin Sullivan at 860-240-8600
Tell them that the state of Connecticut should support working families, not profiteering nursing home corporations. Tell them our tax dollars should go for better care, more staffing and fair settlements, not to fund strikebreakers.
All affiliates should cooperate with SEIU to ensure a large turnout and show of support at a Connecticut AFL-CIO-sponsored Labor Solidarity Rally, which will be held on May 24. We will meet at 5:00 p.m. at St. Mary's Home at the corner of Steel Road and Albany Avenue, North Hartford, Connecticut. Then we will march to the Governor's Mansion—Corner of Prospect and Asylum, for a 6:00 p.m. rally.