(WARSAW) - More than a dozen Unionized-Represented employees of the Cloisters Adult Residential Care Facility in the Wyoming County Town of Warsaw have reached a tentative and new Labor Agreement, representatives of 1199 SEIU (Service Employees International Union) announced today. 

Employees involved in the tentative new agreement include Personal Care Aides, Cooks, Housekeepers and Dietary Aides at the facility, which is located on North Maple Street.  The mission of 1199 SEIU - which represents more than 10,000 Health Care workers across the Western New York Region - is to improve the quality of life of its membership and achieve affordable and high-quality Health Care for all.

"We're pleased with the settlement." said Yvonne Wyse, a Personal Care Aide and member of the 1199 SEIU Employee Negotiating Committee.  "We worked hard to reach an agreement that was fair to the workers, yet responsible in this economy."

A number of improvements were made to contract language, including the grievance procedure, Union orientation, notification of approval of requested time off and the list of employees willing to be called in, 1199 SEIU representatives said. 

Workers, meanwhile, will receive a twenty-cent hourly wage increase pending ratification, with full economic reopeners in 2011 and 2012.

Workers had sought improvements in their hourly wages and other economic benefits, 1199 SEIU officials said.  Currently, the average hourly wage of the workers is $8.15 with no daily overtime and no shift differential.  On April 19th workers voted "no" to a $50 bonus upon ratification on the new agreement and a $100 bonus on their anniversary.  The new agreement would also call for an economic re-opener in 2011.