1199 Magazine | July - August 2019

LGBTQ Pride Celebrations

1199’s kids head to summer camp!

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Did You Forget Your Credit Union Account?

Summertime is Fun Time!

July-August 2019

Our Training Fund’s 50th Anniversary A Journal of 1199SEIU July-August 2019

CONTENTS 6

9 3 Editorial Union kids do better.

5 The President’s Column Stand Up and Be Counted. The Census is coming.

21 On The Cover: Rhea Elliott and Eva Gresham, both 12, are attending the YMCA Camp in Huguenot, NY this summer through the Union’s Anne Shore Camp Program. See story on page 11.

@1199seiu www.1199seiu.org 2

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6 Around The Regions Sign up for the NBF financial wellness program; we celebrate Haitian culture; PreRN Program members graduate; 1199’s contingent tops the NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade; 1199ers celebrate Pride around the regions.

9 Lobby Day 1199ers head to D.C. to fight for healthcare and immigration justice.

18 Toward A More Perfect Union Officers and delegates are sworn in.

11 It’s Camp Time!

Union kids go to summer camp through the 1199 Employer/ Child Care Corporation.

20 Our Retirees 1199 Retiree Inge Auerbach survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp.

14 Did You Forget Your 1199SEIU Credit Union Account?

Check the annual abandoned accounts list.

16 Contracts United workers are still winning.

21 Our History We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Training and Employment Fund.

1199 Magazine July-August 2019 Vol. 37, No. 4 ISSN 2474-7009 Published by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East 310 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 (212) 582-1890 www.1199seiu.org

Editorial: Union Families Are Strong Families We fight today so all of our children will have a better tomorrow.

Our great friend, Marian Wright Edelman, was the keynote speaker at this year’s Training and Employment Program Recognition Ceremony in New York City on June 11. Ms. Wright Edelman, a civil rights pioneer and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, is our country’s foremost child advocate and an elder to whom many of us look for guidance.

In her remarks, she praised 1199ers for their contributions in the struggle for freedom and justice and for their work as caregivers for all our children. Sadly, she also reminded us of the disgraceful conditions faced by too many kids, including those in prison, living in grinding poverty and, now, migrant children in concentration camps at our southern border. Today in the United States, more than 12 million kids live in poverty, with nearly 4 in 10 spending at least one year in poverty before their 18th birthday.

As distressing as those realities are, we also know that union membership is a direct answer to some of those conditions. (A 2015 Harvard University study showed that parental union membership is a predictor of children’s economic advancement, mobility and stability.) 1199’s founders were aware of this truth back in the early 20th Century. They set about building an organization that not only ensured paychecks and protected jobs for working adults, but also fought to better society for entire families, especially children.

Driven by the nation’s conflicted relationship with our children—slaves’ children sold away from their parents; kids working and dying on factory floors; Native American children “re-educated” out of indigenous culture; Japanese-American children interned in camps—our forebears built an organization that not only fights to improve daily conditions for workers, but also to secure the future for generations to come.

Today, as we continue their fight, we also reap the benefits of their work and foresight. Tens of thousands of working 1199 families have built better lives with help from visionary Union programs, including those administered by the 1199SEIU Child Care Fund (CCF).

Founded in 1992, the CCF offers an array of programs for youngsters, including scholarships, child care, summer camp, youth mentoring, career guidance, and

president

George Gresham secretary treasurer

Maria Castaneda executive vice presidents

Jacqueline Alleyne Norma Amsterdam Yvonne Armstrong Lisa Brown Tim Foley Patrick Forde Ruth Heller Antonio Howell Maria Kercado Steve Kramer Joyce Neil Monica Russo Rona Shapiro Milly Silva Gregory Speller Veronica Turner-Biggs editor

Patricia Kenney director of photography

Jim Tynan

art direction & design Maiarelli Studio cover photography

Patricia Kenney contributors

Regina Heimbruch Naeem Holman JJ Johnson Erin Mei Sarah Wilson

Luba Lukova

more. This issue of 1199 Magazine is graced by some of our members’ kids attending summer camp through the Union’s Anne Shore Camp Program. Every year, this unique program sends hundreds of kids of eligible 1199ers to summer camps throughout the northeast.

We are in a time when working families face unprecedented challenges with the economics of raising and educating kids, and inequality is fostering a new generation of haves and have nots. But 1199ers know that Union families are more secure families, and if we stay in the fight and on the path that leads to justice, our hope is that every kid will have the tools they need to grow and thrive in healthy, happy, and successful futures.

1199 Magazine is published six times a year—January/ February, March/ April, May/June, July/ August, September/ October, November/ December—for $15.00 per year by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East, 310 W. 43 St, New York, NY 10036. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 1199 Magazine, 310 W. 43 St., New York, NY 10036.

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Letters & Social Media RETIREE SAYS CUBAN TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS REVERSE PROGRESS orking people all over the country are demanding health care for all, but the Trump Administration is trying to cut back health care for workers. At the same time, President Trump and his allies are trying to economically strangle Cuba, a small country that years ago actually achieved free, universal health care.

I recently had the opportunity to visit Cuba as part of a people-to-people delegation representing more than 30 countries. We learned much on the trip, including that over the years, the Cuban government implemented successful universal free education and healthcare programs. Cuba has also sent thousands of doctors and other health workers and educators to many poor countries to provide services for the underserved. Students from around the world (including from the U.S.) who want to become doctors, but can’t afford medical school, can go to Cuba to receive a free medical education. In return, Cuba asks these new doctors to commit to providing health care to under-served communities in their home countries.

If a small, poor country like Cuba can do these things, why can’t we do them here?

These programs are enormously popular in Cuba and among poor and working people all over the world, but not with billionaires and their allies. When we demand free universal health care and education in the U.S. we are told they are too expensive.

After seeing America’s Cuba policy fail for decades, the Obama Administration eased some of the worst restrictions on travel and trade. The Cuban people I met on my trip were very concerned that Mr. Trump’s new restrictions will hurt them and their children. Yet, they were also insistent that the economic hardships imposed by the blockade will never force them to give up the health care, education, women’s rights and all that they have fought so hard to win.

Trump and his billionaire buddies are making travel harder again because they want to keep people here misinformed. I encourage 1199ers to tell their elected representatives to restore our rights to freedom of travel. The U.S. needs to stop punishing Cuba and countries like it for defying the billionaires.

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1199SEIU MASSACHUSETTS: Congratulations to the L.I.T. Class of 2019! Great work these last five months in educating, agitating, and organizing for a stronger 1199! @1199SEIUFlorida: We are a nation of immigrants. We are family.

We are strong and we are #HereToStay, no matter what anyone says! That message will be heard loud and clear. #DemDebate #UnionsForAll

1199SEIU: The 2019 #OTD in 1865, enslaved people in Texas received word from a Union Army officer that they were free — more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Today we commemorate African American freedom and achievement and renew our commitment to racial justice and equality. #juneteenth2019

Hillel Cohen Retiree, NYC

Photo: Hillel Cohen

 On May Day, as many as 1 million people celebrated International Workers’ Day in the Havana parade along with millions more in other Cuban cities.

RT: @LegalAidNYC: #BREAKING: @NYCMayor, @NYCCouncil announce budget commitment to fund full pay parity for public defenders and civil legal services staff with Corporation Counsel by 2024. #PayParityYes #NoJusticeWithoutUs

1199SEIU FLORIDA: Find out which of the nominees won our Incredibles of Healthcare— a healthcare super hero who goes above and beyond to provide the best care possible. #WeCareForFL

EXPLORE

ONLINE

READ MORE: Look for this icon and check out expanded, online versions of these stories.

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July-August 2019

The Right Wing is Rigging the System We must all stand up and be counted to break their grip on our democracy.

The President’s Column

by George Gresham

Ever since the 2016 election, we’ve heard much regarding Russian interference. I have no new information about that, but I can tell you this: Right here in the U.S. the Republican Party, which controls the White House, the U.S. Senate and arguably the Supreme Court, is laying the groundwork to steal the 2020 elections and every election thereafter.

The GOP has been building to this moment for the past 30 years, recognizing that it has become the minority party. Yet, it retains power because structural inequities erected in the era of slavery are still in force.

Donald Trump lost the 2016 election by three million votes but is president because of the slavery-era Electoral College. The Republicans control the Senate because the Constitution, which was written largely by rural slaveholders and gives each state two Senators, no matter the size of its population or economy.

Aiding these injustices is the U.S. Supreme Court, which has done everything it can to build in a permanent advantage for the Republican minority. Remember the 2010 Citizens United decision?

The Court held corporations are people, saying essentially that when it comes to campaign contributions, billionaires like the Koch Brothers are equal to nursing home workers living paycheck-to-paycheck. The decision made legalized bribery and influencepeddling the law of the land.

Again, in 2013, the Supreme Court declared that racism was no longer a factor in Southern politics and gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. By eliminating federal monitoring, the Court turned a blind eye to nearly

a century of Jim Crow terror and assured Republican dominance.

And just this past June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that extreme gerrymandering—the design of election districts to guarantee one party a victory—was outside of its jurisdiction. It’s not often that the Supreme Court decides it isn’t so supreme after all, but what it did was give the go-ahead to both parties to rig the vote in their favor. The Court turned democracy on its head, saying that politicians could choose their voters rather than voters choosing their representatives. The decision is likely to have a particularly chilling effect in small, rural states and the old confederacy.

So now, Mr. Trump and his allies are determined to protect their illgotten gains by rigging next year’s U.S. Census with a question about citizenship designed to intimidate Black and Brown people out of responding. (At press time, the question had been rejected by the Supreme Court, with the Trump Administration signaling their intention to take another run at it.)

The U.S. Constitution mandates a count of every U.S. resident, every 10 years. This data determines, among other things, each state’s number of seats in the House of Representatives and the distribution of billions in federal funds. In an era when Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have rendered undocumented people afraid of going to work, school or church or of traveling by bus or airplane, census data showing where undocumented families live could be a tool for mass deportations. To protect themselves,

millions of immigrants would choose not to participate in the census. The net effect would be a population undercount estimated to surpass six million people and diminished Congressional representation and resources for larger, multicultural (and usually Democratic) states like New York and California.

Democracy, like freedom, is a constant struggle. Those trying to defy democracy have wealth and institutional power, but we who are fighting to expand democracy have numbers. We must organize and mobilize those numbers if we want to win. What I wrote in the last magazine remains true: “We are living with a political crisis of emergency proportions. Our country needs us—all of us—to go out and register the biggest army of progressive, worker-friendly voters in history. Register every eligible member of your family, your coworkers, your neighbors, those who worship alongside you in your church, mosque or temple. Register everyone you know.”

Let’s get to work.

Those trying to defy democracy have the wealth and institutional power, but we who are fighting to expand democracy have the numbers.

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Around the Regions

t Members marched in the Boston, Manhattan, Queens, and Albany Pride Parades this June.

Kim Wessels Photos

NEW YORK

1199ers Celebrate LGBTQ Pride Throughout most of the northeast, June is LGBTQ Pride Month. And this year, with LGBTQ rights under attack by the current White House and its right-wing allies, 1199SEIU members at marches in New York City, Albany and Massachusetts showed their Union Pride and determination to defend the LGBTQ community.

This year, New York City was the first city in the U.S. to host World Pride, an international event that connects the global LGBTQ movement and advocates for LGBTQ causes. New York City’s Stonewall50/ World Pride 2019 week-long festival drew millions of visitors from around the world and culminated in the massive June 29 parade in Manhattan.

The celebration also marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot, the Greenwich Village uprising that gave birth to the modern gay rights movement and amplified the voices of LGBTQ people of color in the queer diaspora. Quintasha Johnson, a

Nous Selebre Ayiti Boston-area 1199ers gathered in Mattapan Square on May 19 for the annual Haitian-American Unity Parade. Joining many members of 1199SEIU’s Haitian Caucus were Haitians and 6

July-August 2019

housekeeping worker at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, marched in the Queens Pride Parade on June 3. The event drew tens of thousands of marchers, spectators, and allies who joyfully celebrated difference and rejected hatred and oppression.

“It was very important because it brought us all together, not just as co-workers, but as a community.

The more we do things like this, the stronger we are,” said Johnson, who marched bedecked in a glowing orange feathered head dress.

Beverley Miller, a central supply clerk at Rosewood Gardens Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Rensselaer, NY, helped build 1199’s float for the Capital Pride Parade and Festival in Albany on June 9.

“We have to make sure that LGBTQ people know we are not here to judge them, and we will stand by them,” said Miller. “This is the example we must set in 1199: That we will fight for each other— no matter what.”

Haitian Americans from across Massachusetts. In addition to 1199ers, the event drew a host of union locals, community activist groups, elected officials and other supporters. A little rain this year dampened floats, but not spirits, at the event, which is organized by Haitian-Americans United, Inc. This year’s parade focused on the hope that Haitians and Haitian Americans have for

a better Haiti as the nation recovers from the devastating 2010 earthquake. The event included floats, live music, and of course, festive, cheering crowds. Florida 1199ers marked Haitian Flag Day with their participation in the 21st Annual Haitian Compas Festival in Miami on May 18. 1199 hosted a booth at the event where attendees were encouraged to sign a petition demanding

Kim Wessels Photos

legislators protect TPS for our Haitian sisters and brothers and all immigrants. The effort was successful. Dream and Promise Now was passed by the House of Representatives on June 4 and is headed to the Senate. Though passage is hardly assured, it’s the first time in decades an immigration reform bill has succeeded in getting out of the House of Representatives.

Florida Maryland Massachusetts New Jersey New York Washington, D.C.

NEW YORK

Members March in the NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade

Kim Wessels Photos

New York City celebrated the 62nd Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday, June 5, and once again Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue morphed into a glittering, mile-long spectacle of Borinquen pride.

The 300-member 1199 contingent was the largest among the scores of civic organizations, unions, schools,

PR Day Parade: 1199‘s was the largest contingent in this year‘s Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.

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and businesses that were represented in the procession. 1199ers, a swath of purple (and red, white and blue) pride glided along, joining hundreds of dancers, musicians, and floats that delighted hundreds of thousands of proud onlookers. The parade is the country’s largest celebration of ethnic heritage, and once again 1199SEIU’s Unidos Por Puerto Rico (United for Puerto Rico)-themed contingent stood for justice and assistance for the island, which is still recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria.

“We are all brothers and sisters here, and we are all united in this fight,” said Daniel Leon, a building services worker at Northwell Health in Manhattan.

The Brooklyn United Marching Band, a perennial favorite among parade-goers and 1199ers, headed up the Union’s contingent, which included a fiery salsa band, the 1199 Latinos Unidos Dancers, vintage cars, and, of course, hundreds of proud, united 1199SEIU members.

Al Jimenez, a Con Edison worker and long-time union supporter, brought his family to march with the 1199 group.

“My godfather was an 1199 member and I always bring my kids [to march with the Union] because I want them to know what unions are all about and why it’s important for them to stand up for what they believe in.”

The parade is the country‘s largest celebration of ethnic heritage.

1199er’s Mother is Oldest Living U.S. Resident When Alelia Murphy officially became the oldest living person in the U.S. with her 114th birthday on July 6, her daughter Rose Green, an 1199 retiree from Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, turned to her union to help her celebrate. The African American Caucus of 1199SEIU (AFRAM) brought together local elected officials, community leaders, and family members in Harlem to honor Murphy. Green said of her mother, who moved to New York City from North Carolina at the height of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, that she was known for her energetic jitterbug routines back then. “Her motto has always been ‘You can sleep when you’re dead’,” said Green. Some of Murphy’s many granddaughters also attended the ceremony at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building, said: “We ask her —‘Grandma, you’ve been here a very long time’ and she says—‘I’m here because you all don’t know how to live. I’m here to teach you all how to live and things to do’,” said Nefer Neckhet, Murphy’s granddaughter.

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Around the Regions

 Rep. Grace Meng (NY-6), center, was the keynote speaker at this year’s Asian Pacific Heritage Month celebration at Union headquarters in Manhattan on May 29.

NBF Program Can Help You Take Charge of Your Finances

NEW YORK

1199ers Rise Up and Celebrate Asian Heritage Month The 1199SEIU Asian Pacific Islander (API) Caucus marked the end of Asian Pacific Heritage Month with a broad-ranging celebration held on May 29 at the Union’s Manhattan headquarters.

The event highlighted API union members’ organizing efforts and preparations for the 2020 Presidential election. The evening’s agenda included a look back at the development and accomplishments of the API Caucus and a panel discussion about the importance of the 2020 Census and broad partici-

pation among API members.

The event’s keynote speaker was Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-6), the first Asian American member of Congress from New York City and the only Asian American congressmember from the northeast. Meng highlighted the necessity of API unity and strongly encouraged API members to continue organizing and elevating Asian American and Pacific Islander voices.

“If we leverage the total sum of our power and unity, we have a lot more power than we think,” said Meng. “We have a lot more in common than we

have differences.”

GiGi Youssef, an RN delegate at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, Queens, said events like the API celebration are vital in building solidarity.

“It’s important to mingle with our Asian co-workers,” said Youssef, who is originally from the Philippines. “We all have our own voices, but we can all be involved in one community. It also gives us an opportunity to come together to celebrate just how hardworking and compassionate Asian caregivers are.”

Shining a Light on Tomorrow’s Nurses The 1199SEIU/Employer Child Care Corporation held its annual Pre-RN Lab Coat Ceremony on June 3 in the 1199 Cherkasky/Davis Penthouse. The ceremony recognizes the achievements of WorkForce Pre-RN graduates who are considering a career path in nursing.

The event brings together members, their families and trustees to celebrate the high-school students who are working toward a career in nursing. Graduates are presented with a certificate and a Florence Nightingale Lamp of Knowledge pin.

The program aims to increase both the availability and diversity of the New York City nursing workforce by preparing high school students to seriously consider nursing professions and provide the best opportunities for tomorrow’s leaders. For more information visit www.1199SEIUbenefits.org.

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A future nurse receiving her Florence Nightingale pin at the annual Pre-RN/ Lab Coat Ceremony on June 3.

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This fall, the 1199SEIU National Benefit Fund (NBF) is offering all 1199SEIU members a free, online financial information series.

Facilitated by Mobility Capital Finance, the NBF’s six-part series will provide information and advice on building savings, increasing a credit score, planning for retirement, taking important steps toward achieving financial goals, and more.

The interactive, online curriculum includes video, chat, and e-newsletters and has been designed to address the needs and concerns of 1199SEIU members.

The online series runs for three months. See below for the schedule. Registration is now open for the Fall semester.

Sessions are Saturday at 10: 00 a.m. EST. For more information or to sign up, go to: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/mocafi 1. It’s All In Your Mind October 19, 2019 2. Saving Strategies (1) November 2, 2019 3. Saving Strategies (2) November 16, 2019 4. The Importance Of Credit December 7, 2019 5. Working Toward Retirement (1) December 21, 2019 6. Working Toward Retirement (2) January 11, 2020

POLITICS

WASHINGTON, D.C. LOBBY DAY Members carry working peoples’ message to lawmakers.

From city halls to statehouses to the nation’s capital, 1199SEIU members make sure that working people’s voices are heard at every level of government.

That’s why on June 4, members from New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Florida headed to Washington, D.C. to lobby elected representatives about the issues that matter to working people and their communities.

The packed Lobby Day agenda was centered on improving and defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA), putting a stop to proposed funding cuts to safety net hospitals and making sure that training for healthcare workers is a part of any national infrastructure plan.

Members also had the opportunity to personally thank members of the House of Representatives for passing the American Dream and Promise Act. The legislation, which is aimed at providing permanent protection for Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status holders, passed the House just ahead of the Lobby Day visits.

At press time, 1199ers were pressing their representatives in the Senate to make sure it does not stall there.

Henriquez Jellinthon, a patient advisor at Manhattan’s New York Presbyterian Hospital, paid an emotional visit to Congressman Adriano Espaillat (NY-13). Jellinthon came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic under the Dream Act and was nominated by his Lobby Day group to thank the congressman for voting for the Dream and Promise Act

u Massachusetts Region 1199ers prepare to head into the Capitol for a June 4 Lobby Day.

Personal visits with representatives demonstrated 1199ers’ understanding of their political power and their concern for the daily lives of the people who live in their communities.

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POLITICS

and protecting other immigrants. It was an especially powerful moment.

Congressman Espaillat shared that he, too, had come to the U.S. as a Dreamer and now represents one of the country’s most populous districts in the Capitol.

Throughout Lobby Day, personal visits with representatives demonstrated 1199ers’ understanding of their political power and their concern for the daily lives of the people who live in their communities.

1199 has always been a potent political force, but the larger the union becomes and the more solidarity we express, the more influence we can wield in Washington, said Kerri Ingram, a radiation therapist at Saint Anne’s Hospital in Dartmouth, MA. “I’m here in Washington to represent for a lot of us healthcare workers on the ACA. My son graduated high school before it came in. He worked part time and he couldn’t afford insurance because it would have taken his paycheck. I was very pleased when he was allowed to be on my plan until he turned 26. We need affordable health insurance for everybody,” she said.

Nijah Cooper works as a patient transporter at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She had a message for her senator about the proposed Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) cuts scheduled to go into effect this October. Cooper emphasized how damaging the cuts would be to already stressed safety-net institutions.

“When it comes down to cutting costs it affects everyone that works in the hospital. Each department has a budget. If the hospital gets half of what they were getting, that department gets half, which means people will lose jobs and the patients will need to wait longer for food, for transport and test results. In transport we’re already backed up by 30 minutes sometimes, which means patients waiting longer to go to dialysis, to go to X-ray or to have a CAT scan done.”

In visits with legislators, workers also emphasized the need to strengthen healthcare infrastructure.

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Shavonne Momzac, an LPN at Start Rehab and Recovery in Brooklyn, spoke on the importance of properly funded training programs.

“I work in drug rehabilitation and we see over 600 patients a day.

What I’ve noticed is that we don’t have enough nurses to support the well-being of patients. Nationally, we need funding to train more nurses,” said Momzac. “I’m using the 1199 Training Fund to become a nurse.”

“We need affordable health insurance for everybody.”

–Kerri Ingram radiation therapist Saint Anne’s Hospital, Dartmouth, MA

Top: During Lobby Day, Massachusetts’ Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-7) continued talking with members on her way to cast a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Bottom: 1199er Nijah Cooper, a transporter at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, leads a Lobby Day demonstration demanding fair funding for safety net hospitals.

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OUR UNION

1199’s Kids Are

Happy Campers

The Anne Shore Camp Program makes Union kids’ summertime fun time.

Since its inception in 1965, Anne Shore Camp program has been sending eligible 1199ers’ children who are between the ages of nine and 15 on two-to-four week stays at summer camps throughout the Northeast. To participate in the program, there is a nominal administrative fee of $50 and members must also pay tax on camp tuition paid on their behalf. The program is open to eligible members covered under the National Benefit Fund and the Greater New York Child Care Fund. The Anne Shore Program is administered by the 1199SEIU Child Care Corporation and serves between 850 and 900 kids annually. An array of camps emphasizes athletics, fine arts, technology, and outdoor adventure. There are also programs for teenaged, disabled, and special needs campers.

This summer, 1199 Magazine visited the YMCA Camp in Huguenot, NY, a sleepaway camp provider for Anne Shore that this summer, that served nearly 250 1199 kids over the course of two sessions. Scores of leisure, learning, and athletic activities are available to YMCA campers, including woodshop, team sports, dance, arts and crafts and DJing. The 1199SEIU Child Care Corporation offers opportunities for parents to learn about summer camp, including an annual Camp Fair in November and materials about summer camp, which are provided upon request. For more information, email AnneShoreCampProgram@1199funds.org or call 212-564-2220 ext. 3460.

1. Keandre Seide, 14, gets ready to go canoeing.

“I like when we do cabin activities together,” he says.

“I really like when we get to chill out and take a siesta.”

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1199’s Kids Are

Happy Campers

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2. Campers (from left) Nicholas Hodge, Jayden Delgado and Saheed Balogun, all 10 years old, after collecting aquatic life at the YMCA Camp’s Lake McAllister.

3. Campers cool off with some tubing on Lake McAllister.

4. (From left) Steven Campbell, 15, Kwame Micah, 14, and Izaiah Sheppard, 11, shoot hoops with their counselor Zoey Tate, a former 1199 camper. “I just love it here,” says Tate, who is currently a student Seton Hall University in New Jersey. “The kids make me happy. Every time they say hello or give me a hug it brings me a better day.”

5. Zaria Donely, 13, working in the YMCA Camp woodshop, has been to camp 4 times. This year the woodshop was expanded and renovated. “This is one of my favorite activities,” she said.

6. Almir Sterling, 12, practicing his DJ skills with counselors and other campers.

7. Campers show off their moves during a dance lesson.

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OUR UNION

DID YOU FORGET YOUR 1199SEIU FEDERAL CREDIT UNION ACCOUNT?

Money in abandoned or dormant accounts is scheduled to be turned over to New York State.

Are you a member of the 1199SEIU Federal Credit Union?

It is vital to keep your share account(s) with the 1199SEIU Federal Credit Union active. New York State Law requires all financial institutions to report any account that is considered dormant or inactive (3 years without activity) to be turned over as abandoned property. We are required by law to publish this notice of dormant account holders.

A report of these unclaimed funds will also be made to the New York State Comptroller.

Listed persons appear to be entitled to these funds. The full list is on file and available for public inspection at the 1199SEIU Federal Credit Union, located on the 2nd floor at 310 West 43rd St. in Manhattan.

Held amounts of funds will be paid to proven entitled parties by the 1199SEIU Federal Credit Union through October 31, 2019. Remaining unclaimed funds will be turned over to the New York State Comptroller’s Office on or before November 10, 2019. For more information, visit the 1199SEIU Federal Credit Union or call (212) 957-1055.

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Lola Anglin-McFayden 1042 E. 212 St., Bronx, NY 10469 Eva Debrah-Dwamena 101 Sherman Ave., Apt. 6A, New York, NY 10034 Icylyn Burke 3324 Bouck Ave., Bronx, NY 10469 Francis Augustine 2818 Foster Ave., B-1, Brooklyn, NY 11210 Eunice Jennings 4 Shirley Lane, W. Babylon, NY 11704 Odessa Powell 140 Bellemy Loop, Apt. 14D, Bronx, NY 10475 Mae Barnes 161 S. Elliot Pl., Brooklyn, NY 11217 Barbara Williams 600 Burke Ave., Apt. 3E, Bronx, NY 10467 Barbara Brown 133 Norman Rd., Apt. 2-L, Newark, NJ 07106 Marie Brun 94-06 212 St., Queens Village, NY 11428 Iris Lopez 3038 Hull Ave., Apt. 3, Bronx, NY 10467 Hope Merchant 100 Alcott Pl., Apt. 5J, Bronx, NY 10475 Madeline Blanco 923 Ashford St., Brooklyn, NY 11207 Anita Morales 285 Hawthorne St., Apt. 504, Brooklyn, NY 11225 Jayeola Fetuga 22 Britton St., Staten Island, NY 10310 Andrea Barnes 5202 Saul St., Philadelphia, PA 19124 Alma Pagan 1536 Purdy St., Bronx, NY 10462 Roxanne English 174 MacDonough St., Brooklyn, NY 11216 Judith McKenzie-Parsons 245 Gordon St., Staten Island, NY 10304 Josephine Daigbe 10 Raymond Pl., Staten Island, NY 10310 Niurka Montero 77 Grant St., Fairview, NJ 07022 Jennifer Chambers 475 Linden Blvd., Apt. A5, Brooklyn, NY 11203 Uscis Douglas 1023 E.31st St., Brooklyn, NY 11210

Ella Roscoe 1477 Grand Concourse, Apt. 2C, Bronx, NY 10452 Valerie Alston 100 Erskine Pl., Apt. 12F, Bronx, NY 10475 Maxine Washington 53 Waterbury Ln., Westbury, NY 11590 Ingrid Smith 4417 Bruner Ave., Bronx, NY 10466 Victor Mcleod 11 Gabriel Ln., Willingboro, NJ 08046 Verna Bridgemaan 560 E.82 St., Brooklyn, NY 11236 Eric Mayas

130-29 148 St., Jamaica, NY 11436 Theresa Baptiste 605 Georgia Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11207 Meny Laneaud 176 Fieldmore St., Elmont, NY 11003 Joan Mijlans 135 Amers Fort Pl., Apt. 6G, Brooklyn, NY 11210 Denford Taylor 40 Martin Ave., Hempstead, NY 11550 Leydin Frederick 168-30 127 Ave., Apt. 2B, Jamaica, NY 11434 Chandrawattie Rasiawan 91-39 97 St., Queens, NY 11421 Norma Kidd 77 Locust Hill Ave., Apt. 1125, Yonkers, NY 10701 Andrew Johnson 750 Lefferts Ave., Apt. C7, Brooklyn, NY 11203 Rose Frimpong 260 Herkimer St., Apt 3B, Brooklyn, NY 11216 Doreen Massay 1020 Pacific St., Apt. 2B, Brooklyn, NY 11238 James Padikkala 22 Monsignor Lings Ln., Apt. A, Yonkers, NY 10701 Monica Jordan 242 W. 112 St., Apt. 3A, New York, NY 10026 Harriet Papa 40 W. Mosholu Pkwy. S., Apt. 21L, Bronx, NY 10468 Stephen Massey 101 Larkspur Ln., Spartanburg, SC 29301 Yolanda Bierd 678 Sagamore St., Apt. 8H, Bronx, NY 10462

Carol Davidson 1046 Bergen St., Apt. 3B, Brooklyn, NY 11216 Handel Thomas 926 E.101 St., Brooklyn, NY 11236 Carlene Ogarro 37 River View Pl., Yonkers, NY 10701 Afua Apiagyei 11852 Farmers Blvd., Saint Albans, NY 11412 Queen Campbell 271 Parkside Ave., Apt. D3, Brooklyn, NY 11226 Patsy Pascual 32-32 103 St., 2 Fl., East Elmhurst, NY 11369 Natividad Velez 119 Linden St., Apt. 11, Brooklyn, NY 11221 Teelah Smith 1717 Carroll St., Apt. 32, Brooklyn, NY 11213 Idell Savage 1655 Flatbush Ave., Apt. A2102, Brooklyn, NY 11210 Elsie Wright 814 Penfield St., Bronx, NY 10470 Nadine Celestin 960 E.101 St., Brooklyn, NY 11236 Sidoney Clarke 14 Chauncey Ave., New Rochelle, NY 10801 Margaret Whitley 2825 Olinville Ave., Bronx, NY 10467 Margo Gibson 231 Ocean Ave., Apt. 1F, Brooklyn, NY 11225 Cletus Effiong 421 Jersey St., Staten Island, NY 10301 Elmer Mercado 227 Neptune Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11235 Lazara Cedeno 1799 Popham Ave., Bronx, NY 10453 Imani Martelly-Masdoumier 360 Main St., Westport, CT 06880 Sylvia Chimilio 460 Miller Ave., 2nd Fl., Brooklyn, NY 11207 Felecia Bull 88 Sunnyside Terrace, 2nd Fl., Staten Island, NY 10301 Jennifer Diaz 51 W.Mosholu Pkwy., Apt. 5D, Bronx, NY 10467 Marie Nolan 69 Somers Ave., Bergenfield, NJ 07621

Samantha Fowler 182 Bark Ave, Central Islip, NY 11722 Michael Popowich 3511 Putnam Pl., Apt. 4E, Bronx, NY 10467 Kimberly Phillips 92 Saint Marks Pl., Apt. 4B, Staten Island, NY 10301 Peter Allen 8817 215th Pl., Queens Village, NY 11427 Rasheed Barrett 121-6 Freedom Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314 Kareen Miller 1047 Remsen Ave., Apt. 2, Brooklyn, NY 11236 Afua Ansah 260 Parkhill Ave., Staten Island, NY 10304 Daphnee Nazaire 9833 211 St., Apt.1Fl, Queens Village, NY 11429 Innocent Okafor 1170 Nameoke St., Apt. 3G, Far Rockaway, NY 11691 Ma Lina Tabilla 4228 82 St., Apt. 2A, Elmhurst, NY 11373 Evelyn Mark 10122 Ave. K, Brooklyn, NY 11236 Angelica Berrios 1202 Rogers Ave., Apt. 2, Brooklyn, NY 11226 Mindy Venetek 2213 E.17 St., Brooklyn, NY 11229 Arnold Garlin 120 Beach 19 St., Apt. 27A, Far Rockaway, NY 11691 Kokkinis Theodoros 620 W.170 St., Apt. 5H, New York, NY 10032 Claudia Saint Vil 79 Rushfield Ln., Valley Stream, NY 11581 Parbatie Haranah 1264 Boynton Ave., Apt. 1R, Bronx, NY 10472 Marie Jillian Tined 8594 148 St., Jamaica, NY 11435 Cecilia Duran 2268 Waterbury Ave., Apt. 2L, Bronx, NY 10462 Lydia Lugo-Bisnathsing 77 Simonson Pl., Staten Island, NY 10302 Jean Colin 80 Winthrop St., Apt. H3, Brooklyn, NY 11225

1199 Magazine 15

CONTRACTS

“ NOTHING IS HANDED TO YOU.

YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR IT.” Strong contracts prove that united workers can still win.

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July-August 2019

It’s a fact that in a lot of places labor is struggling. But 1199ers continue to prove with contract victories that organized workers can win by staying the course and taking the fight to the boss.

After a protracted contract battle that brought hundreds of 1199ers from around New York to the doorstep of Long Island Community Hospital (LICH) in Patchogue, NY on March 13, workers at the Suffolk County institution have settled a strong, three-year contract.

The agreement, settled in late June, includes coverage under the National Benefit Fund, base wage increases totaling 10%, significant minimum increases for all classifications, and protection of all jobs and working conditions when an upcoming merger with Stony Brook Medical Center is completed.

“It was an arduous battle, but we did exceptionally well,” said negotiating committee member Cristine Crane. “After working at this facility for over 25 years I was ecstatic to be part of the team that led us to an outstanding victory.”

LICH workers voted last year

to join 1199, despite management’s fierce anti-union campaign. And after the organizing win, bosses continued their intransigence through subsequent contract talks. The negotiations tide turned with a March informational picket that brought hundreds of 1199ers to Patchogue and publicly highlighted LICH management’s treatment of workers.

The action shifted management’s perspective, say workers. Talks took on a more serious, purposeful tone.

“Nothing is handed to you. You have to fight for it,” said negotiating committee member Craig Bontempi.

“We came together as one and stared adversity in the face. We overcame the odds, broke down barriers, and achieved things we were told would never happen.”

At nearly the same time, a group of similarly struggling Massachusetts nursing home workers won a new contract. After months of stalled talks, a strike notice, and community advocacy, workers at Saugus Care and Rehabilitation Center in Saugus, MA settled a new, four-year collective bargaining agreement in June.

“We are proud of the work we do, and this agreement is an important step that will ensure we can continue to provide the type of quality care families and residents rely upon,” said Eddy Pierre, CNA at Saugus Care and Rehabilitation Center. “From the start of this process, we have advocated for ourselves and our residents, and we look forward to continuing our work in this crucial industry.”

Saugus Care is an 80-bed facility that employs about 60 1199SEIU members as CNAs, dietary technicians, LPNs and in other positions. Saugus workers’ new contract, settled June 19, features a wage increase, strong severance and successorship language, and the protection of paid meal breaks.

Ownership had previously proposed making workers’ 30-minute meal break unpaid in January, which would have equaled a 6.25% wage cut. The last contract at Saugus expired on October 31, 2018.

After talks stalled, workers submitted a strike notice in June.

Member mobilization and advocacy by elected officials and the community helped convince management to return to the bargaining table and commit to reaching a fair contract. The victory follows a sale and management change at Saugus, and a major effort

by Massachusetts 1199ers to create additional oversight and funding that ensures quality and reliable care for nursing homes.

“The dedicated employees at Saugus Care and Rehabilitation Center deserve wages that allow them to care for their own families, and I’m pleased that this contract provides a wage increase and other benefits,” said Massachusetts State Senator Brendan Crighton. “Quality, affordable and reliable nursing home care is vital to our community, and this contract is an important step for employees and local families.”

Also, in June, 1199 members at Rite Aid Pharmacies across New York and New Jersey won a new three-year contract that includes wage increases.

Coverage under the 1199 Pension Fund, Training and Upgrading Fund and Child Care Funds remains intact. Retaining coverage under the 1199SEIU Pension Fund became a central bargaining point, with workers holding the line on retirement protection. Rite Aid also wanted 1199 members to start paying for generic

medications. Bargaining committee members decided that was a step too far in contract talks and drew a line in the sand. Negotiating committee members stressed 1199’s history as a union that was formed by pharmacists to build unity and strength for the fight to protect affordable health care, fair wages and pensions. Management and the bargaining committee eventually found compromise, agreeing to no co-pays for generic medicines and a minimal cost for preferred and non-preferred brands. Workers also preserved no cost visits to primary doctors and won 2% wage increases for each year of the three-year contract.

Saiman Tam, a pharmacist in Rite Aid’s flagship Manhattan store said the contract was a win for working families.

“I have a family with three children who all depend on our affordable healthcare plan,” said Tam. “It was important to me to fight for their future.”

And on July 10, after months of tense negotiations, healthcare workers at Buffalo, NY’s Kaleida Health System reached a three-year tentative agreement. Kaleida workers are represented by 1199, CWA Local 1168 and IUOE Local 17. The three-union pact covers some 7,200 workers at Kaleida institutions throughout the Buffalo-Niagara Region. Prior to the settlement, Kaleida workers were preparing for a system-wide informational picket.

Jamel Gibbs, an environmental services worker at Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, said the new contract recognizes workers’ importance in quality patient care.

“We are the first line of defense against infection and cross contamination in the hospital, and we deserve a secure retirement for a lifetime of service.”

At press time, ratification votes for all four agreements were under way.

Worker solidarity and mobilization were vital in the recent contract victory at Buffalo’s Kaleida Health System.



“ We overcame the odds, broke down barriers, and achieved things we were told would never happen.”

– Craig Bontempi Negotiating Committee Member 1199 Magazine 17

OUR UNION

Inaugurations Celebrate Accomplishments and Take Up Challenges Union officers and over 4,000 delegates were sworn in at June ceremonies.

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July-August 2019

Some 4,000 1199SEIU delegates from New York’s Downstate, Hudson Valley and Capital Regions, along with a unionwide slate of executive officers, were sworn in at a ceremony held on June 17 at a midtown Manhattan hotel.

1199SEIU President George Gresham and Secretary Treasurer Maria Castaneda, who have held their offices since 2007, were sworn in for a fifth threeyear term. Together with 1199’s Executive Board and delegate body, they represent 450,000 Union constituents.

The event marked 60 years since the seminal organizing

victory establishing 1199 in New York City’s hospitals.

Dennis Rivera, Gresham’s predecessor as 1199’s leader, administered the oath of office.

Rivera grew emotional in his observations about 1199’s continued growth and progress.

“You have not only kept alive our traditions,” said Rivera. “But you have taken them to even greater heights.”

In a touching reminder of working families’ priorities, Pres.

Gresham was joined on stage for his swearing in by his children and grandchildren. In his remarks afterward, Gresham expressed gratitude to the membership for their confidence in him and vowed continued determination in the face of the relentless attacks on working people and the poor.

“We will not sit idly by while some elected officials try to strip tens of thousands of hardworking Americans of the health care they deserve,” Gresham promised.

of 1199,” said Mayor de Blasio.

Jackie Wilson, a surgical tech at Wyckoff Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, was energized as he waited to be sworn in for his first term as a delegate.

Cheryl Mingo, a CNA at Hebrew Home River Spring in the Bronx, said she was more than prepared to join President Gresham on the front lines of the battle for justice and equality.

“When people ask me about being a delegate I tell them not to be scared,” she affirmed. “I tell

them that’s why God gave us a mouth, so we can speak up. If we don’t, we will get walked over.”

A host of long-time Union friends and allies, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and New York State Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, attended the swearing in and praised 1199ers’ unflagging advocacy around quality healthcare and social and economic justice for all.

“America is better because

“Unions are here to help working people and we have to participate and be here to make sure workers get a fair shake,” he said.

Also sworn in at June ceremonies were delegates from Upstate New York, New Jersey, Florida and Maryland/DC. Tyrone Bibby, cook at Crouse Medical Center in Syracuse, was sworn in at a ceremony there on June 26. A firsttime delegate, Bibby said becoming a delegate was a natural extension of caregiving.

“We do this because we want to help people. I have always wanted to help people, whether it’s as a cook with food, or as a delegate,” said Bibby.

“ America is better because of 1199.”

– New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio

t TOP: Clockwise, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and former 1199 Pres. Dennis Rivera at the June 17 swearing in of 1199 officers and delegates.  1199NJ delegates at their June 13 swearingin ceremony.

1199 Magazine 19

OUR RETIREES

Retiree Inge Auerbacher survived the Terezin Concentration Camp. She is dedicated to fighting hatred and intolerance.

It has been nearly 75 years since the Russian army liberated Inge Auerbacher and her family from a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. She was just ten years old at the time and had endured three years in the unspeakable conditions at the Terezin (also known as Theresienstadt) Concentration Camp. Auerbacher and her parents were among only one percent of the people who survived long enough to be liberated. Most prisoners, including her best friend and bunkmate in the camp, Ruth, were sent to Auschwitz and never returned.

Like many German Jewish refugees at the time, the Auerbacher family was not immediately granted asylum in the United States. As the Second World War was ending they were forced to return to Germany, before eventually emigrating in May 1946 and settling in Queens, New York.

But life in the concentration camp had taken its toll on Auerbacher, particularly on her physical health.

She spent her first two years in the U.S. in the hospital recovering from a severe case of tuberculosis. When the family moved to Bushwick in Brooklyn, she spent another year recovering in bed, though she was hardly idle.

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July-August 2019

Andrew Lichtenstein Photos

p Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher, a retired chemist, fears global antiSemitism is on the rise.

“I taught myself English by listening to the radio,” recalls Auerbacher. “I did not go to school in the U.S. until I was 15 years old.”

But once she did enter high school, Auerbacher was able to graduate in three years. She went on to earn a degree in Chemistry from Queens College, which enabled her to get a job as a chemist at Elmhurst Hospital, which is now an affiliate of the Mount Sinai Health Network.

She eventually became an 1199SEIU delegate and helped enforce the contract until she retired in 1997.

“Unions meant a lot to my family,” said Auerbacher. “Without being a member of 1199, I would have had less money because I would have had to pay for my own pension and health care.”

A busy retiree, Auerbacher is very proud to live in her diverse Queens neighborhood, in the same house her parents settled in many decades ago.

“On one side my neighbors are a devout Muslim family from Bangladesh. On the other side there is a Hindu family. There is also a Christian household.”

Auerbacher’s story is reflective of 1199 tradition. Some 80 years ago, 1199’s founders—mostly Jewish

pharmacists who had been barred from medical school by institutional anti-Semitism—came together to fight not only for better wages and working conditions, but also for social and racial justice. Their determination was formed by years of anti-Semitic discrimination and flight from the anti-Semitic massacres in Russia and eastern Europe in the 20th century, known as pogroms.

Auerbacher fears that anti-Semitism is again on the rise in the U.S. and is fighting to reverse that trend. Even though she now suffers from spinal stenosis and has trouble walking as a result, Auerbacher still travels the world to tell her story.

“I go back to Germany every year to speak in the schools,” she said.

Auerbacher firmly believes that the antidote to hatred is education and has devoted her retirement to doing just that.

“When I was a child in Nazi Germany, I had to wear a Jewish star and travel in a different section of the train,” remembers Auerbacher.

“We have four religions living sideby-side here in Queens, which is a wonderful thing.”

"When I was a child in Nazi Germany, I had to wear a Jewish star and travel in a different section of the train.”

O MTBOER RY S OU URR M HEI S

HOW THOUSANDS OF 1199ERS HAVE CLIMBED THE LADDER OF SUCCESS SUCCESS

Training and Employment Funds mark 50 years of unprecedented accomplishments.

Among the many jewels in the 1199 crown, none shine brighter than its widely praised Training and Employment Funds (TEF). The TEF’s family of programs include the Training and Upgrading Fund, Job Security Fund, Registered Nurse Training and Job Security Fund, and Labor Management Initiatives, Inc. Together they represent the largest workforce support program in the nation.

The Funds got their start in 1969, when 1199 negotiated a $100-dollar weekly minimum wage, a pension plan and management-financed education and training. The contract campaign was waged in the midst of nationwide civil rights struggles, and was seen as a tool to address some of the worst consequences of racial and gender discrimination that had blocked the career path of many healthcare workers.

Since then, the TEF has guided 1.5 million members through myriad advancement programs. Chief among them have been 439,000 in skillenhancement programs; 324,000 in allied health programs; and 257,000 in pre-college programs. Today the Funds serve more than 40,000 workers yearly in all sectors of the healthcare industry who earn high school diplomas, undergraduate and advanced degrees. Members are also able to simply upgrade their skills or access placement services and extended benefits if laid off.

TEF programs also help meet the needs of the industry at large by addressing emerging trends. To realize its goal of helping to ensure that members and institutions obtain the skills and resources needed to provide high-quality care in a

1199 Magazine 21

OUR HISTORY

“ It was one of the most beautiful and constructive years of my life.”

z The 1199SEIU Training and Employment Funds (TEF) celebrated their 50th anniversary this year. Since the Funds’ inception in 1969, the TEF has provided workforce development and education services for more than 1.5 million workers. t More than 46,000 members have participated in Registered Nursing programs through the TEF.

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July-August 2019

changing environment, the funds work with counselors, teachers, administrators, managers and support staff.

Over the years, the TEF expanded throughout the 1199 regions. The Upstate Region of New York today includes 58 employers and 15,000 workers. The Massachusetts Training and Upgrading Fund (TUF) covers 12,500 members across the state.

The Maryland/DC Fund covers 5,285 members, and the newest fund, in Florida, serves some 2,000 members.

Grace Bailey, an RN at Boston Medical Center, recently earned her BSN at Salem State University. Bailey, originally from Jamaica, was inspired to enter the healthcare profession by her mother, who was a midwife.

Over the course of her journey from CNA to RN, Bailey says that she faced numerous obstacles. “But the staff of the Fund guided me through those years and they were a rock for all of us,” she stresses.

Bailey was one of the members from across the 1199 regions who gathered at a midtown Manhattan hotel on June 11 for the annual 1199 TEF Recognition Ceremony and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the TEF’s founding. The annual event marks the achievements of Union members who completed a TEF program during the academic year.

Among the speakers who lauded the program were 1199 Pres. George Gresham, himself a TEF graduate; Marc Kramer, president of the League of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes of NY; Stacey Abrams, voting rights leader and last year’s Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia; and keynote speaker, Marian Wright Edelman, legendary civil-rights leader and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund.

The value of the program was dramatized through the testimonies of graduates who took the stage. “I came to the U.S. as a single mother with an 11-year-old son. We came in search of the American dream and found the American possibility,” said Brookdale Medical Center’s Andrea James, who recently earned her master’s in clinical laboratory science and management.

Although James was a pharmacist in her home country of Guyana,

she had to repeat much of her education in the U.S. because her credentials weren’t recognized in the U.S. James and her son also got their U.S. citizenship through the funds’ Citizenship Program. Many testimonies such as James’s can be found on the TEF’s Facebook page. There, graduates testify to the TEF’s use of the very best practices and principles of adult education to transform members’ lives and families, while strengthening the healthcare industry and improving society as a whole.

Claudel Bull, a former Patient Care Technician at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, for example, earned her High School Equivalency Diploma, took College Prep and Health Careers College Core Curriculum (HC4) courses, and completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Lehman College in the Bronx. “I am so appreciative,” says Bull, who now works as an RN on NYU’s cardio-thoracic unit. “And I will not feel complete until I give back more of myself to someone else. That is my ultimate goal.”

Tiffany Lawson was a teenaged single mom and a CNA at Brooklyn’s Brookdale Hospital when she decided that she wanted to advance her career.

“The Fund paid for my entire educational journey,” Lawson says.

“Without that help, I don’t know where I would be.”

Tamara Lawrence, a CNA at Morningside Nursing and Rehab Center in the Bronx writes on the TEF Facebook page that for many years she was unable to return to school because of family and work responsibilities. She eventually enrolled in the National External Diploma Program (NEDP). Lawrence earned her diploma earlier this year and praised the staff at the TEF’s Bronx site for their competence, encouragement and support.

“After getting my diploma, I enrolled in an LPN program, which I hope to complete in 2019,” Lawrence says. “As a mother, I want to serve as a role model for my child, and as an 1199SEIU member, I want to inspire other members to take advantage of the many educational benefits offered by the Training Fund.”

 Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman addressed this year’s Training Fund Recognition Ceremony in Manhattan on June 11. y Student speakers at this year’s TEF Recognition Ceremony, from left, Brookdale Medical Center’s Andrea James, who graduated with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Lab Science and Management; Northwell Health’s Marion Greaves, who completed a Registered Apprenticeship as a Central Sterile Processing Technician; Boston Medical Center’s Grace Bailey, who completed a Bachelors in the Science of Nursing; and Union Community Health Center’s Griselda Lopez, who completed a Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling. u Celebrating family style: Graduate Grace Bailey, right, with daughter Nasha-Lee and granddaughter Chayil, nine months.

“ Without that help, I don’t know where I would be.”

1199 Magazine 23

Toward a More Perfect Union

At the June 17 swearing in of officers and delegates in New York City, members sported an updated version of vintage 1199 hats worn during the historic 1959 strike that established the Union in New York City’s voluntary hospitals.

See story on page 18.

1199 Magazine 24