Healthcare Workers Protest By Banging Pots and Pans, Marching A Funeral March In NYC, and Rallying In Albany

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Thousands of healthcare workers across New York to walk out and rally during their breaks to protest Gov. Hochul’s budget on April 5, 2023. A month before that, they protested in the nation’s capital, and engaged in an act of non-violent civil disobedience in New York City in the form of a funeral march. Some were arrested. Those photos are below.

Healthcare workers in cities and towns across New York banged on pots and pans in front of their institutions and hold rallies to raise the alarm that Governor Hochul’s proposed budget that neglects NY’s healthcare needs.

WHEN:
Wednesday, April 5

WHERE & WHEN:
Hudson Valley/Capital Region:
Noon: WMC/Good Samaritan Hospital, 257 Lafayette Ave, Suffern

11 a.m. The Grand at Guilderland, 428 NY-146, Altamont

11 a.m. Schenectady Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, 526 Altamont Ave, Schenectady

WHAT:
Healthcare workers will rally during their lunch break outside their institutions, banging on pots and pans to raise the alarm of New York’s healthcare crisis and the need to Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap in the FY2024 state budget.

WHY:
Three years ago, as the pandemic was turning our world upside down, New Yorkers banged on pots and pans each night to cheer healthcare heroes. Now, healthcare workers will be making the noise: raising the alarm that Governor Hochul has proposed a budget that completely fails to grasp the gravity of the crisis facing NY’s healthcare system.

Today, patients and healthcare workers continue to face the pandemic’s aftershocks. Safety-net hospitals are on the brink of closure, emergency rooms are overflowing, nursing home residents face interminably long wait times for bedside care, and homecare services are becoming ever harder to come by.

Rather than making the necessary investments to stabilize healthcare services, Governor Hochul’s budget would make the situation worse. Her proposed 5% Medicaid rate increase is entirely offset by the elimination of savings from the 340b drug pricing program and the cut to the Indigent Care Pool.

The budget includes cuts of $700 million from safety net hospitals, reverses course on a major victory last year raising the pay of homecare workers to $3 above the minimum wage, reduces wages for consumer-directed home health aides by $4.09/hr., and fails to provide adequate funding increases to nursing homes as they struggle to recruit and retain staff to comply with nursing home reform laws.

With stagnating Medicaid funding and a depleted and burnt-out workforce, an austere healthcare budget would be devastating to New Yorkers, especially seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families.

1199SEIU is calling on NY’s elected leaders to invest $2.5 billion in healthcare in the FY2024 budget, including the following:

  • (The one-house budget proposals recently released by Speaker Carl Heastie and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins make many of these commitments, and they must be fulfilled in the final budget.)

  • Increase Medicaid reimbursement rates by 10% for hospitals and 20% for nursing homes, with no offsets.

  • Restore the $700 million in safety-net funding, and increase it by an additional $600 million.

  • Address the disparity in reimbursement rates in upstate New York, which are approximately 20% lower than downstate.

  • Preserve the investment made last year in Fair Pay for Home Care to stabilize the homecare workforce and undo the drastic proposed cuts to wages for workers employed through the consumer-directed program.

  • Raise the minimum wage to $21.25 by 2027, followed by indexing.

ADDITIONAL CONTEXT AND PROTESTS:

Wednesday’s event comes two weeks after some 15,000 members of 1199SEIU held the largest rally in decades at the Capitol on 3/21, calling attention to the severe impact that Gov. Hochul’s proposed budget would have on access to healthcare in New York’s most vulnerable communities. Photos of the rally can be found here.

On 3/29, hundreds of 1199SEIU members and supporters held a “funeral march” through the streets of New York City to the door of the Governor’s office to raise awareness of the deadly impact of healthcare cuts. Over two dozen participants, including 1199SEIU President George Gresham and hospital and nursing home workers, engaged in an act of non-violent civil disobedience and were arrested. Photos and video of the 3/29 march and civil disobedience action can be found here.

ACTIONS ACROSS THE STATE:
New York City:
Bronx:
12PM: St. Barnabas Hospital, 4422 3rd Ave., Bronx
2PM: Pinnacle Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, 801 Co-Op City, Bronx

Brooklyn:
12PM: Brookdale Hospital, One Brookdale Plaza, Brooklyn

Manhattan:
12PM: NY Presbyterian Hospital, 177 Fort Washington Ave, New York, NY
2PM: The New Jewish Home, 120 W 106th Street, New York, NY

Queens:
12PM: Jamaica Hospital, 8900 Van Wyck Expressway, Jamaica
2PM: The Pavilion at Queens for Rehabilitation & Nursing, 36-17 Parson Blvd, Flushing

Staten Island:
2PM: Clove Lakes Nursing Home, 25 Fanning Street, Staten Island

Long Island:
12PM: Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, 900 Franklin Ave, Valley Stream
2PM: Hempstead Park Nursing Home, 800 Front Street, Hempstead
2PM: Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care & Rehabilitation, 271-11 76th Avenue, New Hyde Park

Healthcare Workers and Providers Rallied Outside Of ERs and Nursing Homes With State Legislators Re Gov. Hochul's Healthcare Budget and Medicaid

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From a Press Release from United Healthcare Workers East 1199SEIU,

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Dem. lawmakers say “not so fast” on Gov. Hochul’s “conceptual budget” for healthcare

“State legislators joined healthcare workers and providers outside of ERs and nursing homes Friday afternoon (April 28, 2023) to say that more needs to be done on Medicaid before a final budget is signed.

“On Thursday evening, Gov. Hochul announced a tentative budget deal that caregivers, advocates, and legislators say doesn’t go nearly far enough to protect New Yorkers who rely on Medicaid. Although the Governor claims she’s increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates by 7.5%, the actual amount equates to an anemic 2.5% when considering that she reduced hospital funding by $525 million just weeks ago on April 1, in the implementation of a managed care “pharmacy carve-out.” At a time that healthcare costs are sky-rocketing and NY’s healthcare needs have never been greater, the Governor’s budget is a step backwards, not forwards.

“Video remarks from outside Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx include satatements from:

  • Senate Health Chair Gustavo Rivera

  • Senator Nathalia Fernandez

  • Senator Luis Sepulveda

  • Assemblymember George Alvarez

  • Assemblymember Amanda Septimo

  • Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz

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The United Healthcare Union Works East Union Wins Contract Negotiation With Resistant Nuvance Health

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The United Healthcare Union Works East union 1199SEIU has been working aggressively to get improvements in their employment contract. This April 2023, 1199SEIU Members In NY’s Hudson Valley have ratified a contract after more than a year of tense negotiations with Nuvance Health, which is based in Connecticut.

Key contract highlights include: Annual raises of 3.5% in 2023, 2024, 2025; Increases minimum rates up to 10%; Juneteenth as an additional premium holiday, according to the union’s press release.

From the United Healthcare Union Works East Press Release:

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More than 1,500 members of 1199SEIU, the nation’s largest healthcare union, have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a contract that will improve the lives of the workers, their families and patients, and will also help to recruit and retain staff

The 3-day ratification vote, which took place on April 19, 20 and 21, was the culmination of more than a year of contentious negotiations. With constant stalling on behalf of the employer and little progress being made, the healthcare workers were forced to hold several informational pickets, joined with concerned elected officials and patients at press conferences, held a car caravan to inform the public and contact Board members, and demanded dozens of meetings with management (away from the negotiating table.)

The Bargaining Units:

First Union Contract:

  • Technical Workers at Northern Dutchess

  • BioMed Engineers at Vassar/Putnam

  • Radiation Therapists at Vassar Putnam

Extending Contract:

  • Vassar Brothers Medical Center

  • Putnam Hospital

Contract Highlights:

  • Annual raises of 3.5% in 2023, 2024, 2025

  • Increases minimum rates up to 10%

  • Juneteenth as an additional premium holiday

  • Long-time members continue their no-cost, comprehensive health benefits through the 1199 National Benefit Fund

  • New members to be covered by the 1199 National Benefit Fund effective 12/1/24

Background: New York’s healthcare system is facing an unprecedented crisis. Three years since the first COVID case was confirmed in New York, patients and workers continue to face pandemic’s aftershocks. Emergency rooms are overflowing, patients wait interminably for lab results, and healthcare workers are fed up and leaving the industry. This contract aims to recruit and retain workers and bring back the type of care that Hudson Valley residents have enjoyed in decades past.

Said Michael Dick, Biomedical Engineer, Vassar:

"As a lifetime member of this community, this is much more significant than a win for the ‘people who work here.’ This is a victory for the entire community. This organization is meant to serve ALL of us. With the support of 1199 and the entirety of its membership, we look forward to bringing back the Vassar we know.”

Said Daniel Duffy, Radiation Therapist, Putnam:

“After three years of being persistent and at the same time being patient, we have our contract. I think, I hope, Nuvance may now see us as a valuable asset to their organization.”

Said Greg Speller, 1199 Executive Vice President:

“We are very happy that our members prevailed and won important collective bargaining agreements that will benefit healthcare workers and patients. Special praise goes to the workers who fought hard for their first contracts; technical workers at Northern Dutchess Hospital, and staff in the biomedical and radiation therapy departments at Vassar and Putnam.”

It must be noted that this was markedly different from other negotiations with other hospital systems.

Sadly, Nuvance treated their healthcare workers poorly in this process. Instead of coming to the table and agreeing to good terms (that the 1199 healthcare workers eventually forced upon them), management fought, stalled and disrespected their workers—during the same time they were getting all of us through a global pandemic. This out-of-state hospital operator must treat their workers much more respectfully, given what the workers have done for their communities and continue to do for their communities.”

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1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. We represent over 450,000 nurses and caregivers throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.

Union For Healthcare Workers 1199SEIU Demands Abortion Rights Be Restored With Federal Law

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On June 24, 2022, the United Healthcare Workers East 1199SEIU, the largest union of healthcare workers in the United States, sent a statement to the press in response to the overturning of Roe vs Wade, which fundamentally changed the control people who give birth have over their bodies and future lives.

“Large majorities of Americans support abortion rights. Yet the Supreme Court, stacked with extremist voices totally out of step with our nation’s values, has radically undermined the right of every person who can get pregnant to control their own bodies.”
— George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

Their statement from George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East reads as follows:

“As a union of healthcare workers, we recognize that the right to an abortion is fundamental to reproductive health, overall health, and bodily bodily autonomy. 1199SEIU is appalled that the US Supreme Court has erased half a century of legal precedent allowing people to make the most basic decisions about their bodies, lives, and families. While much of the world is moving forward to secure greater reproductive rights, we have taken a tremendous step backward.

“Large majorities of Americans support abortion rights. Yet the Supreme Court, stacked with extremist voices totally out of step with our nation’s values, has radically undermined the right of every person who can get pregnant to control their own bodies.

Hello, World!

“Those who can afford it will travel out of state or out of country for abortion procedures; those with the least financial means will have nowhere to go. The same politicians who herald the end of reproductive freedom will not raise a finger to improve pre- and post-natal care and ensure that health services are universally available.”
— George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

“The ramifications of overturning Roe vs. Wade are as gut-wrenching as they are predictable: there will be an immediate wave of abortion bans in states around the country as trigger laws go into effect. People will seek out alternative and dangerous ways of ending their pregnancies. Rape victims, including children, will be forced to carry to term. Those who can afford it will travel out of state or out of country for abortion procedures; those with the least financial means will have nowhere to go. The same politicians who herald the end of reproductive freedom will not raise a finger to improve pre- and post-natal care and ensure that health services are universally available.

“This decision must be a glaring wake-up call to the dysfunction of our nation’s political life and the grave threat of authoritarianism to our democracy, our laws, and institutions.

“1199SEIU stands firmly behind the right to choose and we will continue to fight tooth and nail to preserve this most basic freedom. We call on Congress to codify abortion rights into federal law immediately.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. They represent over 450,000 nurses and caregivers throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.