Unionized workers at 20 Connecticut nursing homes threatened to strike Monday, saying they earn only $13 to $15 an hour and have received meager raises in recent years.
More than 2,500 workers could go on strike May 1 if an agreement is not reached. They aired their demands as Stop & Shop workers entered the fifth day of a strike that has stretched across southern New England.
During a news conference at the state Capitol complex, the nursing home workers from SEIU 1199 New England were highly energized and seemed ready for a strike with loud chants and responses to union and political speakers. The union members have already voted overwhelmingly — 1,449-78 — to authorize a strike.
The workers are seeking raises of 4 percent in 2019 and 4 percent in 2020. Many of them have gotten increases of only 25 cents to 30 cents an hour in recent years.
The potentially affected homes are located across the state, including in Hartford, West Hartford, Windsor, Bloomfield, Manchester, New Britain, Waterbury, Cromwell, Norwich and Norwalk.
Rob Baril, the union president, referred to the workers as “1199 warriors” during the sometimes-raucous news conference.
“We need to raise wages in nursing homes,” he said. “It is a labor of love … but you cannot pay the rent with love. … Workers voted for a strike because there must be change in their conditions. … We refuse to be second-class citizens.”
The workers include nurses, certified nursing assistants, dietary workers and housekeepers, among others.
The Rev. AJ Johnson of Urban Hope Refuge Church in Hartford said the workforce is “in particular, women of color,” who perform difficult tasks.
He drew cheers from the union crowd when he said, “Some are doing some of the hardest work that some of our legislators in this building would never do!”
While the workers complained repeatedly that they are underpaid, Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration responded that money has been sent to the industry.
“Twice in the last four fiscal years, the state has stepped up to increase wages and benefits for nursing home workers — at a time when most Medicaid providers have not seen any increases,” Chris McClure, Lamont’s budget spokesman, said in a written statement. “In 2016, the state increased wages to over 200 nursing homes and new pension plans to over 40 homes — increases of nearly 3 percent and costing a total $38.6 million. Then, just this past fall, in Fiscal Year 2019, the state agreed to fund 2 percent wage increases to nursing home workers at a cost of $23.2 million annually. The state is not the employer, but we work to ensure the funding is available to assist the owners and used for the intended purpose of increasing wages for the staff.”
Matthew Barrett, president of an association of 160 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Connecticut, said the legislature needs to allocate more money for Medicaid that can be directed to the nursing homes to pay the workers.
“It is simply unreasonable to expect nursing facility operators to enter into costly multiyear funding commitments to address collective bargaining issues without the Medicaid resources needed to pay for those costs,” Barrett said. “Nursing home operators understand the critically important work and value of their hard-working employees, but Medicaid funding at current levels is insufficient to address the full range of issues, including the underlying issue of longstanding Medicaid underfunding for over a decade.”
The 20 homes that could be affected by the strike are currently making contingency plans, including potentially hiring replacement workers to care for the patients, he said.
Senate Republican leader Len Fasano of North Haven said Democrats in the legislature, including those who appeared at the union news conference, need to be cautious as lawmakers try to balance the two-year $43 billion budget in the coming weeks and months.
“At a time when Connecticut’s fixed costs are eating away at our discretionary spending, Democrats continue to push for more generous contracts for state employees without realizing that those contracts are actually making it harder for people like the state’s nursing home caregivers to obtain raises,” he said. “Democrats continue to hurt the good work of SEIU 1199 by increasing fixed costs and crowding out funding for all other needs.”
Fasano referenced a recent contract with lawyers in the state attorney general’s office that included 11 percent raises for the lawyers, who make more than $100,000 a year. “Such generosity eats away at funds for all other workers living paycheck to paycheck,” he said.
All the sides involved said Monday they hope a deal can be reached to avoid a strike.
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com.
