(CORTLAND, NEW YORK) – 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEI)-Represented Workers at the Crown Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Cortland are Planning an Informational Picket to Protest What They Say is a Failure by Management to Increase Standards in the Nursing Home and Share the Burden of Rising Insurance Costs.

More Than 100 Workers at the Nursing Home Began New Contract Negotiations in May but Have Been Unable to Come to an Agreement, Union Representatives said.

“We Don’t Want an Agreement That ‘Moves Us Backward’,” Marie Manwarren, a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) at Crown Center, said. “Leaving Us to ‘Bear the Burden’ of Increasing Health Care Costs is ‘Not Fair,’ and That Doesn’t Even Take Into Account the Rising Cost of Living!”

Workers Have Been Frustrated With the Pace of Negotiations and Disappointed With the Lack of Progress Toward an Agreement, the SEIU said.  And the Employees say They Will Begin to Inform the Community "of the Relationship Between Improved Worker Standards and Better Quality Care for Residents."

If Employees are Unable to Come to Agreement Early This Week, the Picket Will be Held on Wednesday (July 22nd) From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Nursing Home Facility on Kellogg Road.

No Strike or Work Stoppage is Planned, Union Representatives said, and Health Care Workers Will Participate on Off-Duty Time.

To Directly Access This Labor News Story, Go to: http://cortlandvoice.com/2015/07/17/cortland-health-care-workers-plan-picket-to-protest-labor-standards/