More Victories For New Jersey Omni 1199SEIU Members
The last two 1199SEIU workers who were unlawfully locked out at Omni Castle Hill Nursing Home in New Jersey for participating in a 3-day unfair labor practices strike in August are back to work. Recreational aides Renee Chapman and Olga Delgado have returned to care for their residents at Castle Hill Nursing Home, temporarily in the housekeeping and dietary departments. They will soon be back to their former jobs providing recreational activities to their residents.
It’s been a long haul, but the steadfast determination of the more than 300 1199SEIU New Jersey nursing home workers has been worth the effort. The caregivers at four Omni Health Systems nursing homes continue to make progress in their fight for a fair contract. Recently, the National Labor Relations Board alleged that the strike they held this summer at Castle Hill, Palisade, Harborview and Bristol Manor was in response to unfair labor practices on the part of the employer.
These unlawful practices included interrogating workers about their union activities, threatening them with dismissal for striking and refusing to come to the table to negotiate a contract.
The workers are also celebrating two significant grievance victories. Long time Castle Hill worker Naomi Altidor, who was terminated, won her grievance and she is back at work with no loss of pay. And, at Palisade, the suspension of 36-year veteran CNA Mildred Campbell was overturned and she was paid for the 10 lost days.
Omni workers say that their grassroots community campaign and public education campaign—including television, radio, newspaper, and Google ads, a mobile billboard and a website--has been effective.
Community support has been extraordinary. Last week, the Community Coalition in Support of Omni Nursing Home Workers and Residents presented Omni administrators Avery Eisenreich and Mendel Gold with a petition signed by more than 3,600 people.
The nursing home workers have been without a contract for more than three years, many earning less than $8 per hour. But the Omni corporation made more than $20 million in profits in one year alone. More than 20 percent of Omni caregivers and their families rely on New Jersey’s low-income Family Care program for health insurance because Omni refuses to offer affordable family coverage. Ninety percent of the funding for the nursing homes comes from tax dollars.