(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) - More than 300 Nursing Home Workers at Buffalo Center, Ellicott Center and Corning Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing have voted to ratify a new contract with their employer.  The Workers are represented by 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) United Healthcare Workers East and had been working without a contract since it expired last April.  The new agreement runs through April 2022.

Caregivers have been among the lowest paid Nursing Home Workers in Western New York and have been on the front lines battling COVID-19 for months, 1199 SEIU Officials said.

Centers Health Care operates 49 Skilled Nursing Facilities in the states of New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Workers were ready to picket the facilities last week, but were able to reach a settlement the night before the job action, Union Officials said.

Highlights of the new deal include significantly higher minimum rates for Nursing Staff, a 2% general wage increase, pension improvements, a yearly uniform allowance and longevity bonuses.

Increasing the start rate for new hires was a major goal for 1199 SEIU to help with recruitment and retention of Staff, which has been a problem at the Centers, Union Officials said.

“I’m ‘happy we didn’t have to picket, but I think this made us stronger and we will be ready to fight for more at our next go-round,’” Ishma Marshall, a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at Ellicott Center in Buffalo, said.

1199SEIU represents more than 4,000 Nursing Home Workers across Western New York and has recently registered settled agreements covering almost 20 facilities.

Other area nursing home contracts ratified by Union Members included higher start rates, wage increases and other benefit improvements - such as increased pension contributions.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has exposed challenges and only amplified issues in the nursing home industry that have long existed – short staffing, low wages, high turnover, reliance on agency and per diem Staff, inadequate infection control, profiteering and insufficient state oversight – resulting in reduced standards of care and a workforce struggling to earn enough to take care of themselves and their families.

“Nursing Home Workers ‘should not have to fight so hard just to win a decent wage and some benefit improvements, but that is the way it is with these owners.’  The Centers Workers ‘deserve every penny they won in this contract settlement,’” 1199 SEIU Vice-President Todd Hobler said.

1199SEIU represents 60,000 Nursing Home Workers across the State of New York and will soon launch a statewide campaign for the comprehensive nursing home reform needed to ensure residents receive the highest levels of care, and Workers are able to remain safe and healthy as they deliver care to their residents.

“The ‘end goal’ of the campaign ‘is to ensure the billions of taxpayer dollars being spent to provide care to vulnerable New Yorkers are actually being spent on care and not siphoned out in excessive profits,’” Hobler said.

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East - whose mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all, represents more than 400,000 Nurses and Caregivers throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida and in Washington, D.C. and Florida.