1199 SEIU Rhode Island

April 27, 2016May 23, 2016

Poll: 3 of 4 RIers support $15 minimum wage

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More than three of every four Rhode Islanders “favor” a $15 minimum wage for nursing home workers, according to a Fleming & Associates poll done for local labor groups. The poll question, shared by the SEIU 1199NE, found that 76 percent of those polled support a $15 basement wage for those who “care for Rhode Islanders with developmental disabilities or elderly nursing home patients.”

A similar poll last year found 69 percent of Rhode Islanders favored a $15 minimum wage for care providers.

“It’s dignity,” said Vicky Mitchell, a certified nurse assistant in a video released with the poll question. “You don’t wanna get sick and old, and nobody’s there to take care of you.”

The poll showed 63 percent of Republicans surveyed supported raising the minimum wage for nursing care providers to $15 an hour with 26 percent opposing. It’s unclear how many Republicans were polled. 350 Rhode Islanders were polled.

The poll was question was released to coincide with a House Finance Committee hearing on a bill that would raise wages for nursing care providers. It’s sponsored by Providence Rep. Scott Slater and Sen. Gayle Goldin.

The video is the second the SEIU has produced as it fights for a $15 minimum wage in Rhode Island.

April 13, 2016April 14, 2016

Nursing home workers Fight for $15

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Following a wave of successful efforts to raise the minimum wage in California and New York, and with news that nursing home workers in Pennsylvania won a $15 starting wage, SEIU 1199 held a “Fight for $15” rally at the State House Wednesday afternoon.

“I shouldn’t have to rely on food stamps if I’m working 40 hours a week taking care of people. But I do! Honestly, I could be making more at Dunkin’ Donts and that’s ridiculous,” said Nichole Ward, a CNA at Greenville Skilled Nursing and Rehab in a statement.

Of special interest was legislation submitted by Rep Scott Slater (H7547) and Senator Gayle Goldin (S2521) that directs funds in the nursing home budget to raise wages for nursing home workers. Similar legislation was passed in Massachusetts last year. Both Goldin and Slater promised to fight for this legislation, with Slater calling it his top priority.

Shirley Lomba, a CNA/CMT for 14 years warned that talented nurses will soon be leaving our state for the better paying jobs in Massachusetts, saying, “many of us will drive 15-20 minutes… where we can earn more money.”

April 12, 2016May 23, 2016

Aggie Clark is why RI needs a $15 minumum wage

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A Providence Journal editorial lamented the loss of billionaires and millionaires who would abandon the Ocean State for lower taxes in the South. But Aggie Clark, a certified nurses assistant who doesn’t make enough money to pay her bills, better represents what ails Rhode Island’s economy.

Rhode Island doesn’t have too few rich people, we have too many poor people.

That’s why the SEIU is organizing a rally at the State House tomorrow to renew the local fight for a $15 minimum wage.

“Caregivers, legislators and allies will hold a rally and day of action at State House in support of raising wages and getting nursing home workers on a path to a $15 per hour minimum wage,” according to a news release from the SEIU, which also created the video. “The event comes a week after workers from California to Long Island won a phased in $15 minimum wage and 5,000 nursing home workers in Pennsylvania won a $15 starting rate.”

The event is Wednesday, April 13 at 3:30 pm in the State House rotunda.

“Frontline nursing home caregivers in Rhode Island who do vital work helping families care for their elderly loved ones are underpaid and struggle to support their own families at home,” according to the news release. “In order to attract and retain a qualified nursing home workforce as our economy improves, Rhode Island will need to enact policies ensuring nursing home caregivers earn a living wage — just as several states, including Massachusetts, have done.”

November 17, 2015November 17, 2015

Bannister House caregivers picket against new ownership

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Bannister House workers and labor allies picketed outside the historic nursing home Tuesday afternoon to fight for fair wages and higher quality resident care.

“The informational picket was in response to Centers Health Care, a for profit out-of-state corporation with no track record in Rhode Island, attempting to lower standards at Bannister House,” according to an SEIU 1199 press release.

“Earlier this year my co-workers and I mobilized to save a nursing home which has been in our community for generations, but now new management is attempting to drive down standards for workers, which would lead to high turnover and reduced quality care,” said Shirley Lomba a C.N.A/C.M.T who has worked at Banister for 14 years, in the release. “We are standing up to be treated fairly.”

Bannister House was founded in 1890 by Christiana Bannister “to provide long-term care to African-American women in Providence, many of whom were retired domestic servants with no resources or family to care for them.” Earlier this year, the nursing home was saved from closing when SEIU 1199 members, community allies and political leaders urged the Providence City Council and the Rhode Island Senate to pass “resolutions calling on all stakeholders to keep the historic nursing home open.”

The hard work paid off. Bannister House just celebrated its 125th anniversary.

Centers Health Care is described by SEIU 1199 as a nursing home chain “with a track record of layoffs.” SEIU is calling on Centers Health Care CEO Kenneth Rozenberg to reach a fair contract with workers to keep turnover low and the quality of care high. The picketers were handing out flyers asking passersby to call CEO Rozenberg at (718) 931-9700 ext. 216 and. “Tell him to be fair to the staff and residents at Bannister House.”

November 10, 2015October 22, 2016

Fast food workers rally for $15 and a union at Wendy’s in Warwick

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Fast food employees, restaurant workers and labor allies rallied outside the Wendy’s restaurant at 771 Warwick Ave in Warwick around noon as part of a national effort to kick off a year-long $15 minimum wage campaign ahead of next year’s presidential elections. Nearly 100 people gathered in the parking lot of Wendy’s, where the management had locked the doors ahead of the protests and only served meals through the drive-thru window.

Led by outgoing Rhode-Island Jobs with Justice executive director Jesse Strecker, workers chanted and marched around the building, finally settling in front for a series of speeches from various workers and advocates “all the way down the food chain.”

Long time Wendy’s worker and minimum wage advocate Jo-Ann Gesterling spoke not only about fair wages, but about wages stolen when management forces workers to work through their breaks, lack of accountability in the management structure, and other issues fast food workers deal with on a daily basis.

Demonstrators were not only demanding $15 an hour, fair treatment and a union, they were also demanding that Wendy’s join the the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program (FFP). Attentive readers will remember that the Brown Student Labor Alliance lead a protest in October around the FFP, described as a “ground-breaking model for worker-led social responsibility based on a unique collaboration among farmworkers, Florida tomato growers and 14 participating buyers.” It is “the first comprehensive, verifiable and sustainable approach to ensuring better wages and working conditions in America’s agricultural fields.”

Emelio Garcia, a former employee of Teriyaki House Restaurant in downtown Providence spoke about not having been paid for work he did at the restaurant. Wage theft is a story sadly common in Rhode Island, as more and more employees stand up and demand the wages that have been stolen from them by employers. Garcia says that he was docked for two hours of pay a day for breaks he was never actually allowed to take.

Flor Salazar, who worked at Café Atlantic and was owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, was allegedly assaulted by owner Juan Noboa with a baseball bat when she and a group of workers confronted Noboa at his home Halloween morning. “We are tired of having our work stolen, we are tired of being disrespected in our workplace,” said Salazar, “It’s enough.”

The final speaker was a not a restaurant worker but Magdalene Smith, a CNA working at a Pawtucket nursing home. “This is not a fight for just restaurants, but for everybody,” said Smith. “Everybody deserves $15. We work hard.”