Our Life & Times | July/August 2016

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WE #VALUE HEALTHCARE PROS

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EARLY DETECTION IS THE BEST CANCER TREATMENT

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THE LAST WORD: GERRY HUDSON

A JOURNAL OF 1199SEIU July/August 2016

WE’RE WITH HER Members are getting out the vote for a Hillary Clinton victory.

Please send address changes to addresschange@1199.org 1

July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

www.healthcareworkersforhillary.org See story on page 8

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Editorial

Our Life and Times July/August 2016

EVERYTHING WE FIGHT FOR 4 IS AT RISK

President’s Column

In The Regions Celebrating Training Fund grads in NYC and MA; Members share working women’s struggles at two D.C. conferences; Union leadership and delegates sworn in; Contract win for Jamaica Hospital midwives.

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The SEIU Convention Members re-elect SEIU Pres. Mary Kay Henry and elect Gerry Hudson as the Union’s Secretary-Treasurer at the gathering in Detroit.

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Be a Weekend Warrior Sign up and help get out the vote for Hillary Clinton in crucial Battleground States.

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Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes Union women talk about why politics and participation matter.

“A Trump victory could spell the end of the labor movement as we know it.”

The last few months were not the lazy days of summer for 1199ers. We are continually fighting for our patients, families and communities. Nursing home members were on picket lines in Upstate New York, fighting short staffing.

“We were out there because we love our residents,” explained Medina Abeita, a CNA at Tonawanda Nursing Home in Tonawanda, NY. At events in Massachusetts and New York, hundreds of members celebrated their completion of academic or certificate programs through the 1199 Training and Upgrading Fund. And in Washington, D.C., home health aides spoke at two women’s conferences—one hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama. “It was exciting to see the First Lady was 100% behind us on issues of equal pay and paid sick leave,” said home health aide Rhina Garabito.

In our Last Word feature, SEIU Secretary Treasurer Gerry Hudson reminds us that all of this is at grave risk unless we mobilize and ensure Hillary Clinton’s victory in

the November Presidential election.

“A Trump victory could spell the end of the labor movement as we know it,” says Hudson. “It would mean every branch of government would be in the hands of enemies of labor. It would also indicate that voters had opted for authoritarian and racist populism.”

1199SEIU members are ready to make sure a Trump victory won’t happen. Members like Addie Davis, a PCT from Mountainview Nursing and Rehab in New Paltz, NY are preparing to become Weekend Warriors and get out the vote for Hillary Clinton in critical swing states. A Trump victory, “… would be just devastating for single moms and all of our children,” she says. Members like Fay Thompson, a PCT at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. will also be on the front lines in battleground states.

“People need to make the right choice, so we have to go out and tell them,” says Thompson.

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Breast Cancer: Early Detection is the Best Treatment New NYS funding provides millions for free breast cancer screening and treatment.

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#WeAreOrlando 1199ers stand with Florida to make change in wake of mass shooting.

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The Work We Do At Vassar Brothers Medical Center these 1199ers care for patients when they are at their most vulnerable.

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Housing Isn’t a Luxury Many working people battle gentrification and stagnant wages just to keep a roof over their heads.

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The Last Word SEIU Secretary Treasurer Gerald Hudson

Our Life And Times, July/August 2016 ISSN 1080-3089 Vol 34, No 4 Published by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East 310 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 Telephone (212) 582-1890 www.1199seiu.org president

George Gresham secretary treasurer

Maria Castaneda executive vice presidents

Jacqueline Alleyne Norma Amsterdam Yvonne Armstrong Lisa Brown George Kennedy Steve Kramer Joyce Neil Monica Russo Rona Shapiro Milly Silva Gregory Speller Veronica Turner-Biggs Laurie Vallone Estela Vazquez

editor

Patricia Kenney director of photography

Jim Tynan photographer

Belinda Gallegos art direction

& design Maiarelli Studio cover photograph

Andrew Lichtenstein contributors

Mindy Berman Pat Forde Regina Heimbruch JJ Johnson Allison Krause Sarah Wilson Our Life And Times 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 Our Life And Times, 301 W.43 St., New York, NY 10036.

LUBA LUKOVA

@1199seiu www.1199seiu.org July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

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THE PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Letters HATE MUSTN’T WIN IN NOVEMBER! GET OUT AND VOTE! he January/February issue of Our Life And Times (OLAT) addressed the topic of Islamophobia and featured NYU Lutheran’s Maha Khatib, a respiratory therapist, on the cover. Maha is a devout Muslim who is very concerned about the anti-Muslim rhetoric consuming our country.

We at NYU Lutheran are all very proud that Maha opened up a window into her professional and family life for OLAT. Muslims and practitioners of all faiths go to work, come home, care for and enjoy family. We are all the same.

That article couldn’t have come at a more critical time, especially since this phobia is being used as gasoline into fire by the GOP nominee Donald Trump. The scary part is that there are racist groups and many people listening and not enough media outlets speaking contrary to this candidate.

Our union has always been on the frontline, standing up against injustice of every kind and our battle cry of “an injury to one is an injury to all” could not be more true today. Let us organize ourselves in the way that we know how, to put out the flame of hatred in the upcoming elections and let us send Trump packing. Let’s rise to the critical mass in November and turn out to vote unlike any other time! We are 400,000 plus strong! Each one, bring three (or more) to the polls. See you there!

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SAMUEL SIERRA Contract Administrator NYU Lutheran Medical Center Brooklyn, NY PFIZER HAS MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE ON DEATH-PENALTY DRUGS he announcement by the pharma­ ceutical giant Pfizer that it would ban the use of its drugs to carry out lethal injections was warmly applauded by many pharmacists—including this one.

Pfizer has joined other companies who have declared that their drugs should only be used to enhance and save lives, not to take them. The company was the last remaining open-market source for death-penalty drugs in the United States. The announcement sends a powerful message to the states which are still carrying out executions.

Unfortunately, rather than end the barbaric practice, many states are desperately turning to lightly-regulated compounding pharmacies and other questionable sources for death-penalty drugs. Some states are even turning back the clock and employing electric chairs, gas chambers and firing squads.

We have seen many convictions eventually overturned by the courts. Those who have been executed following a wrongful conviction have no chance of receiving justice. The death penalty has no place in a civilized society.

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MAURICE DE PALO Registered Pharmacist, Montefiore Medical Center Bronx, NY Editor’s Note: Correction: In reporting our Union election results in the last issue of Our Life And Times, we misidentified our vice presidents from 1199’s Western New York Region. They are: Todd Hobler, Nursing Homes; James Scordato, Hospitals; Kathy Tucker, North Country; Bruce Popper, Rochester/Corning; and Ruth Heller, Central NY. We regret the error.

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July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

George Gresham

We Value Our Professional and Technical Workers So why don’t some of our employers?

Low pay results in recruitment and retention shortages and staff shortages result in mandated overtime to complete normal workloads. For the healthcare profession, this is an unhealthy situation.

I consider myself the luckiest guy in the world, being able to serve 400,000 dedicated caregivers as president of our Union.

But if I had never run for office or served on our 1199SEIU staff, I would still be very fortunate. My story is like those of thousands of our members. I started out in a hospital as a janitor and through our 1199 Training Fund, was able to become a radiology technologist—without ever having to open up my wallet.

I became one of what are now some 35,000 professional and technical workers in our union. We work in the labs and the pharmacies. We take x-rays and perform MRIs and CT scans.

We are physical, respiratory and occupational therapists. We are paramedics, EMTs, substance abuse counselors, social workers, nutritionists, LPNs and physician assistants.

All 35,000 have advanced education and training, and require continuing education to both meet certification requirements and to keep up with changing technologies and advanced methods of analysis and treatment. We are absolutely vital to the delivery of quality care. And as the industry restructures with a growing emphasis on ambulatory care, professional and technical workers take on increasing importance. And yet sometimes we are overlooked.

Take our clinical lab techs. They may not be in direct contact with patients, but their role is essential to patient care.

Some 70 to 80 percent of physician diagnoses are based on lab results. Without them, doctors would have to rely purely on guesswork in the fields of oncology, immunology, transplant medicine, genetics, nephrology and more.

As 1199 lab tech Rhode Hailik puts it, “We are the eyes of doctors. We help them see what’s happening inside their patients’ bodies.”

Lab technologists undergo a rigorous, five-year education— many are the first generation in their families to attend college —but their pay is comparatively low for their skill level. Low pay results in recruitment and retention shortages and staff shortages result in mandated overtime to complete normal workloads. For the healthcare profession, this is an unhealthy situation.

Some employers understand this situation. Others, not so much. Even those institutions that provide Training Fund money for continuing education don’t always allow release days for members to take necessary classes. Not every employer is prepared to negotiate these issues even when they’ve previously agreed to do so. Some employers remain short-sighted when it comes to equitable compensation for these trained professionals.

After many years of labor-management cooperation— joint lobbying efforts in legislatures to secure higher standards and credentialing, collaboration through our Training and Upgrading Fund—some employers seem ready to forgo such partnerships going forward. The “bottom line” seems to have overtaken the highest quality care as their first priority.

What else can we conclude when professional and technical healthcare workers are short-changed when it comes to paid release time for continuing education, short-staffing and competitive compensation rates?

Health care should be patient-centered in the first place. We know that many of our employers agree with this proposition. We begrudge none of them for raising their own executive salaries and administrative pay. But we can’t accept a short-sighted austerity approach when it comes to our healthcare professionals. That makes none of us better off and makes quality care delivery the foremost loser.

InTheRegions

NEW JERSEY

Pres. George Gresham swears in MD/ DC delegates at June 22 ceremony.

1199’s leadership and downstate NY-area delegates were sworn in at a June 9 ceremony in Manhattan.

1199SEIU Leadership and Delegates Sworn In Retired 1199 Pres. Dennis Rivera administered the oath of office to 1199SEIU’s executive leadership and some 1,400 Union delegates from the Downstate New York area at a swearing-in ceremony held June 9 in New York City.

Rivera was greeted with warm and prolonged applause and took a few moments before conducting two oaths of office—one for officers and one for delegates—to praise the work of 1199’s leaders and encourage leadership development.

“I know this Union is in good hands,” he said.

Members overwhelmingly elected Pres. Gresham and Sec. Treas. Castaneda to their third terms in office in union-wide elections conducted over March and April. Ballots were also cast for candidates in the positions of executive vice president, vice president, union-wide vice presidents at large, organizer and elected rank-and-file executive council member.

At the June 9 ceremony, Mary Stovall-Merill was sworn in as the new 1199SEIU Retirees Division

President. Stovall-Merill retired in 2013 as a clinical laboratory technician from Peninsula Hospital in Queens; she served for 30 years as a delegate at the institution.

“Being an 1199er doesn’t stop when you retire,” she says. “We want people to retire and stay active in our Union. We want to send the message that you can retire and make the same contribution that you made when you were on the job. Your commitment doesn’t have to stop just because you stop punching the clock.”

Delegate Lionel Williams, a CNA at Eger Nursing Home on Staten Island, was sworn in for his second term. He helped organize Eger and feels a responsibility for keeping the Union strong there, he says.

“This is important not just because we’re getting sworn in, but we also get to talk to other delegates and take their strength back to our shop,” he says. “Nights like this make us feel really positive.”

Delegates were also sworn in at ceremonies held throughout the regions during June.

Homecare worker Rhina Garabito spoke on women’s issues at a conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by FLOTUS Michelle Obama.

PHOTO: JAY MALLIN

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Homecare Workers Inspired by Women’s Conference 1199SEIU activists attended two conferences in the nation’s capital in June that aimed to improve conditions for working women. 1199ers joined women from around the country at the United State of Women Summit hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama June 14-15 and at the fiftieth anniversary conference of the

National Organization for Women (NOW), which was held June 23-26.

Deborah Watson, 1199SEIU activist and home health aide (HHA), spoke on a NOW Conference panel about building grassroots support for our caregivers.

Watson presented the challenges that HHAs face daily, sharing the story of a client’s discharge from hospital with no plan in place to prepare her for the return home.

“When I phoned the agency about this, they were very rude to me and said if I went to her house to help, I would not be paid,” says Watson. “But I don’t care about the money. I wasn’t calling because I wanted to be paid. I wanted to make sure that my client was being looked after. In the end I went to her house and was there until 2:00 a.m. getting her settled—without being paid.”

Watson explained that she often had to do almost everything for her client. She acted as a social worker and made sure there was food from local church food pantries, so there was enough to eat. She conferred with doctors and generally managed the woman’s care.

“My client is not very good in speaking up for herself. Sometimes I have to call the agency and speak up for her. The agency fights me for being her voice. But if I’m not her voice, nothing much would get done,” she adds.

Watson welcomed the chance to share her story. Experts at the conference put a fine point on what she shared about her experience with poor services for seniors and

the underserved.

“This is the first time I had the opportunity to speak out. I had no idea that people even cared,” she says.

“There are people here that really care, and it brought so much comfort to me to know that. I must go back and share what I’ve seen here with my colleagues in home care.”

Rhina Garabito, an HHA at T & N Reliable Nursing Care in Washington, D.C., was equally enthusiastic about sharing her experience with other working women.

The event, hosted by Michelle Obama, was attended by more than 5,000 women from all walks of life, and aimed at seeking solutions to long-standing problems like the wage gap, violence and rape culture, and the lack of educational opportunities for women around the world.

“We can never be complacent.

We have seen in recent times how quickly gains can be taken away if we aren’t vigilant and if we don’t know our history. My hope is that people we have here will be inspired and ready to do something,” Mrs. Obama told attendees.

“It is not what people say about you, but what you do that is remembered. So the question is: What are you going to do?”

“It was wonderful to see so many women from all cultures, races and religions pledging to work together,” Garabito says with optimism. “It was exciting to see that the First Lady was 100% behind us on the issues of equal pay and paid sick leave and family leave that we are fighting for with 1199SEIU.”

Alaris Workers Hit the Picket Lines to Remedy Bosses’ Foot-Dragging

In a display of unity aimed at showing management they mean business, dozens of 1199SEIU members held pickets June 29 and 30 at four Alaris Health nursing homes in northern New Jersey. Members at Alaris Health at Castle Hill, HarborView, Boulevard East, and Rochelle Park have been denied pay increases for two years in a row as Alaris continues to drag its feet in contract negotiations, despite rulings in February which found the nursing homes guilty of unfair labor practices including employee intimidation and refusing to bargain in good faith.

Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Diana Lewis has worked at Alaris Health at Castle Hill in Union City, NJ for 11 years.

“We have had no raise for the past two years,” she explains. “The health insurance we have is no good. We have to pay for everything. This has been a problem for me because I have high blood pressure and I need medication. It costs $100 for a three-month supply of my medication.

“My son, two daughters and four-year-old grandson live with me,” adds Lewis, “Since my daughter lost her job with DHL, I’m the only one with a pay check. I earn $11.62 an hour and my pay check doesn’t go very far. Right now I don’t have a phone because I had to pay the electricity bill to keep my lights on and I didn’t have enough for the phone.”

Delegate Devika Smith is a CNA who has also worked at Alaris Health at Castle Hill in Union City for 11 years.

“I earn $11.70 an hour and it is not enough to pay for the bare necessities of life. We are required to feed the residents, and we don’t even know where our next meal is coming from. The world needs to know that we are the working poor. How can you be working 40 hours a week and still not be able to pay your rent?” wonders Smith. “It is not like the owner of Alaris can’t afford to pay us more. He just doesn’t want to.”

According to data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Alaris Health is quite healthy, having earned more than $170 million in profit between 2010 and 2014.

In spite of management’s foot-dragging, Alaris workers made it clear they aren’t giving up their power. On May 26, caregivers from Alaris Health at the Atrium, an assisted living facility in Jersey City, voted 23 to 7 in favor of organizing with 1199SEIU. The personal care attendants (PCAs) and certified medical assistants (CMAs) decided to join after seeing the improvements that union membership brought to workers next door, at Alaris’ Hamilton Park nursing home, which has been an 1199 facility for many years.

“What you work hard for you should have, like a fair wage and enough paid sick time so we can take care of ourselves,” said Shira Hassan, an Atrium PCA.

NJ Alaris workers and their family members picketed four nursing homes on June 29 and 30, fighting for a contract.

July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

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Top: Civil rights heroine Claudette Colvin was honored at June 15 Training Fund celebration in Manhattan. NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray was evening’s keynote speaker.

Bottom: Massachusetts region 1199ers at their June 23 Miles and Milestones TUF celebration.

NEW YORK AND MASSACHUSETTS

Grads Shine at Annual Training Fund Celebrations The 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Funds celebrated the accomplishments of graduates with June events in New York City and Massachusetts. The annual events recognize members who complete Training and Upgrading Fund (TUF) programs during the academic year.

In Manhattan on June 15, New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray was the keynote speaker at a celebration attended by 650 graduates from throughout New York State, Maryland and New Jersey. Attendees were among the more than 1,000 members who in 2015 completed TUF programs that ranged from professional certification and training to Associates, Bachelor’s

and advanced degrees in nursing, radiology and respiratory therapy.

McCray lauded members’ perseverance in the pursuit of education. Special praise was reserved for the supportive family, friends and co-workers of working students; speakers cited the brand of determination particular to adult graduates.

“Going back to school was a challenge for me considering my family obligations, bills and the demand of working full-time while being a full-time student,” said Samson Osebor, who earned his LPN and is now a charge nurse at Meadowview Care Center in North Reading, MA. “At times I had to choose between buying my textbooks and paying household

bills as they came in. Without tuition assistance from the Fund I wouldn’t have been able to go to school.”

Osebor was among the speakers at 1199 Massachusetts’ June 23 Miles and Milestones celebration. The annual event, held this year at the Union’s Quincy headquarters, honors the region’s TUF graduates. This year marked a decade of the TUF helping Bay State 1199ers enroll in postsecondary certificate or degree programs; over that time more than 500 working women and men have attained their educational goals in the field of health and human services with help from the TUF. Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) Grace Bailey graduated in 2015 with her BSN from Salem State University. Her diploma may be inscribed with her name, but she earned it with others in mind.

“As the result of my education, I’m still working at BMC, not as a nursing assistant, but as an RN,” she says. “I’m thrilled to be fulfilling my childhood dream.

Finally, I have the opportunity to be in this essential role of improving a patient’s health.

Being able to provide comfort and security at times when patients feel vulnerable is a great reward to me.

The gratitude from my patients is the greatest gift.”

NEW YORK

Call The Midwife!

Jamaica Hospital Group Wins New Contract After a laborious negotiation, 14 certified midwives represented by 1199SEIU at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, NY on June 17 ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. The 15-month contract includes wage increases of 9 percent, which are retroactive to October, 2015, and first-time coverage under 1199’s Benefit, Pension, Training, Job Security and Child Care Funds. Workers also won a grievance and arbitration procedure According to the Mayo Clinic’s Mayo School of Health Science, nurse midwives are in high demand and have seen exponential growth in their profession in the last two decades. As health systems and hospitals merge patients are discovering midwives work in roles beyond the common perception.

“Midwives are often dubbed “experts in normal.”

We are highly educated, trained, and skilled providers known for our respectful, patient- and family-centered care and our fierce advocacy for the women we serve.

Mounting evidence supports the many benefits of midwives, a short list of which includes fewer unnecessary cesarean sections, fewer operative vaginal deliveries, lower costs, better patient satisfaction, and

better birth outcomes. This is driving women across the country to seek midwifery care,” says midwife Christina McPherson, a Jamaica negotiating committee member.

“In addition, primary care is increasingly moving toward a system managed by non-physician providers (such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and midwives) as doctors move away from primary care in favor of specialty and sub-specialty medicine. As more and more citizens reap the benefits of increased access to health insurance, midwives are ideally placed and uniquely qualified to provide low-cost, high-quality care to fill this growing need.

McPherson expressed gratitude for the solidarity of Jamaica’s housekeeping staff; they were clear on their willingness to join a sympathy strike for the midwives if necessary. The strong contract they won will ensure the development of new classifications like midwifery.

“It was 18 months in the making and the negotiations were arduous but we are proud of the document we agreed upon,” she says. “It provides us with much needed security­—both personal and professional—and also provides better incentive for midwives to stay at Jamaica Hospital.”

Midwives at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, NY won a stellar contract in June after some seriously laborious negotiations.

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July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

NLRB Award Closes Chapter on Historic Strike

Workers at Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation in the Bronx, NY won a bittersweet strike victory in 2008.

Though they achieved a new contract, the agreement came with some loss.

CNA Audrey Smith Campbell, a longtime Kingsbridge delegate, died from an asthma attack on her way to the picket line. Smith-Campbell’s tragic death pushed Kingsbridge workers to continue their struggle on to an eventual contract victory. On June 9, at a law office in Manhattan, the final chapter on the Kingsbridge strike was closed when four workers (and the family of a deceased worker) received checks for a National Labor Relations Board award totaling more than $105,740. Toma Becia, Elizabeth Browne, Woclech Orlos, Pansy Shaw and the late Shelia Jolley were found to have been illegally dismissed by Kingsbridge prior to the 2008 strike.

Kingsbridge worker Pansy Shaw with her check.

InTheRegions

Workers at Sheridan Manor Rehabilitation and Nursing in Tonawanda, NY at a June 21 picket against staffing cuts at the institution.

Workers Picket for Quality Care at Tonawanda Nursing Home Over 60 workers at Sheridan Manor Rehabilitation and Nursing Facility in Tonawanda, NY held an informational picket June 21 to alert the public of serious quality care issues occurring inside the nursing home.

The workers were joined by resident families, community activists and

1199SEIU members from other area healthcare facilities.

“I have been working at Sheridan Manor for 32 years now and this is the worst it has ever been,” said Denise Deoasquale, CNA. “There’s not enough staff to give (our residents) the proper care they need.”

Since coming under new

ownership in 2015, staff has been reduced by half. Subsequently, the NYS Department of Health has rated the quality of care at the nursing home an abysmal one star out of five.

Workers say poor ratings and staffing cuts are related.

“We were out there because we love our residents,” explained Madina

Abeita, a CNA. “When we work short, our residents suffer. Management needs to hire more workers. They need to show they care about the patients more than they care about profits.”

Donna Rose, whose mother has been a resident of Sheridan Manor for the past 29 years, says she has seen the number of staff declining and has experienced the direct impact the cuts have had in relation to the care her mother receives.

“My mother didn’t choose to be here, but this is her home. She should be able to enjoy quality care and have a decent quality of life. This nursing home needs more staff and continuity of care. These agency temps they are sending in do not know the personal needs of the residents. If there are not enough people the residents lose both quality care and quality of life.”

PHOTO: ROBERT KIRKHAM

First Contract For Medical Management Group @ CVPH New 1199SEIU members at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital’s (CVPH) Medical Management Group (MGM) in Plattsburgh have their first contract. After CVPH took over the MGM medical office in 2015, more than 100 workers on the office staff became 1199 members. They now have all the same benefits as 1199ers throughout CVPH, including a defined benefit pension plan and rights that protect them from being unfairly disciplined or terminated. On June 29, MGM workers were among the 1,000 CVPH members who ratified a new contract that includes raises and longevity bonuses.

PHOTO: ROBERT KIRKHAM

New Contract @ Western NY’s Kaleida Health Systems 1199SEIU members Kaleida Health in Buffalo, NY ratified three-year collective bargaining agreement in a vote held July 13 and 14.

“In a rapidly changing industry, I am proud that our new contract both addresses our concerns and protects the quality care our community deserves,” said delegate Leah Gilmer, a surgical technologist at Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.

The contract includes wage increases and provisions for hiring additional frontline staff.

It covers 7,500 Kaleida workers represented by 1199SEIU, the Communications Workers of America and the International Union of Operating Engineers.

July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

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Our Union

1199ers Attend 26th

SEIU Convention

Winning racial and economic justice are united as goals in union’s Constitution; Gerry Hudson named International Secretary Treasurer.

The Service Employees International Union held its 26th Annual Constitutional Convention in Detroit, MI on May 22-24, with hundreds of delegations from SEIU locals across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, representing the international union’s 2 million members.

Workers from every sector came together at the quadrennial event to tackle challenges around organizing, political action and societal change. 1199SEIU’s 300-member delegation was the event’s largest.

“This is a really eye-opening experience. I’ve learned so much,” said first-time convention delegate Geraldine Ballantine, a CNA from Teaneck Nursing Home in Teaneck, NJ. “It’s really wonderful that people are coming together for a common goal. We’ve talked a lot about The Fight For $15, which is really important for our members in New Jersey. We still have workers there making $8.00 an hour.”

SEIU holds its convention every four years to coincide with the Presidential election.

This gathering was themed #SEIUnstoppable to signal the International’s entry into a new era of coalition-building, solidarity and issue-awareness. Though the Fight For $15 was high on the agenda, members also caucused about expanding diversity and hammered out constitutional changes that are the guiding principles of SEIU’s work and mission.

“They had a party for millennial workers. There were events for everyone,” said Natasha Kendrick, 28, a housekeeper at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. “I even went to the Retirees Caucus because I felt it was important for me to hear what people there had to say.

When the older generation retires we are going to be in their shoes and I want to know about their experience.”

Resolutions approved this year call for economic justice for Puerto Rico, demand environmental justice for working people and responsible environmental stewardship in communities like Flint, MI and, in a major progressive shift, a strategic commitment to winning racial and economic justice by confronting and disrupting anti-Black systemic racism.

“This convention is about coming together and celebrating

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July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

1199ers at 26th SEIU Convention, which was held this year in Detroit. Hillary Clinton gave a rousing speech at the event. our successes, but we also have to face our challenges,” said Beriza Luciano, a substance abuse counselor at Mount Sinai-St. Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan.

“We may have different things we have to fight for, but we also have many of the same things—like basic respect and dignity.”

and organizing agenda and SEIU members must take the lead,” he said definitively. “If you really want to do something about Black Lives Matter, you have to go into Black communities. We must recruit member leaders and this means we are going to have to have 2 million conversations.”

Members also elected SEIU Pres. Mary Kay Henry to a third, three-year term along with a team of seven vice presidents. And in a highlight for 1199ers, SEIU members enthusiastically affirmed former 1199 executive vice president and current International executive vice president Gerry Hudson as SEIU’s International Secretary Treasurer. A proud Pres.

George Gresham and a sizable contingent of joyful 1199ers put Hudson’s name in for nomination to the position.

In his remarks, Hudson was clear about what’s necessary to achieve the goals set forth at the convention: member participation.

“We must drive a shared issue

On May 23, Hillary Clinton gave a rousing speech at the convention that hit on many of the key issues for working people—from organizing to sensible gun laws. Every point drew thunderous rounds of applause.

“Right-to-work is wrong for America,” she said. She also vowed to improve conditions for low-wage workers and stand with families who have been affected by gun violence.

She vowed to make gun-control legislation one of her top priorities.

Delegate Geraldine Ballentine was on fire.

“This is where we start things and we have to take it back home to finish it,” she said. “We are going to be like a runaway train: unstoppable.”

PHOTO: RAIMUNDO VALDEZ

“ This is a really eyeopening experience.

I’ve learned so much. It’s really wonderful that people are coming together to work for a common goal.” ­— Geraldine Ballentine, CNA

Our Union

Save The Dates!

Brooklyn Hospital 1199ers Kim Clarke (left), a clerk, and Avril Edwards, a dietary worker, got out the vote for Hillary Clinton in June’s New York State Presidential Primary.

Weekend Warriors:

We’re With Her!

Members head to critical swing states to get out the vote for Hillary.

1199SEIU’s Weekend Warriors are back! And getting ready to hit the streets in battleground states to get out the vote and ensure a November victory for Hillary Clinton.

In 2004, “1199 Heroes” joined together in a landmark effort to Push George W. Bush Out the Door. Bush was re-elected, but the program became a model for member political organizing. In 2008, 1199’s Heroes were again out in the battleground states and they were joined by a powerful force of Weekend Warriors.

This was an army of 1199 volunteers who on Saturdays and Sundays worked in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Florida and elsewhere to help get out the vote and deliver the historic election of President Barack Obama. Many of those Warriors got on buses again in 2012, and played a key role in re-electing Pres. Obama and VP Joe Biden. This year, with everything from the Presidency to the Supreme Court at stake, 1199’s Weekend Warrior Get Out The Vote effort is more important than ever.

Fay Thompson is a PCT at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. She was a Weekend Warrior in 2012. And she’s planning to do it again this year for Hillary Clinton. Thompson wants a president who’s on her side.

“People need to make the right choice, so we have to go out and

tell people,” she says, affirming her support for Hillary. “We have to educate them so that they understand the choices we have to make around education and health care.”

Addie Davis, a PCT at Mountainview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in New Paltz, NY, was fired up to be a Warrior after Clinton formally accepted the nomination on July 28 at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Davis, a delegate, campaigned and phone banked for Clinton in June’s New York State Democratic Primary race. She’s expecting a challenge in her district, she says, because Trump voters aren’t uncommon. But she’s also more than ready, she says.

“It’s interesting to hear people’s thoughts and why they think that way,” she says. “I think I was able to get through to someone I work with, a union member. She believed Trump would bring America back because of his business successes. I talked to her about why she believed that. I told her that even if she feels uncertain, it’s a real gamble with our futures [to vote for him. I like getting out there to encourage people, telling them that WE can make change.”

You can learn more about becoming a Weekend Warrior from your organizer or by logging on to HealthcareWorkersForHillary.org.

Below are the program dates, locations and departure times for our Weekend Warriors program. Register with the attached card or at www.HealthcareWorkersForHillary.org.

We’re sorry, but we can’t provide childcare for very young children. We’ll be going door-to-door to get out the vote, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes and clothing. See you on the doors!

DATES: Sat. Sept. 24 Sat. Oct. 1 Sat. Oct. 8 Sat Oct. 15 Sat Oct. 22 Sat. Oct. 29 Sat. Nov. 5 Sun. Nov. 6 (Massachusetts Only) Mon. Nov. 7 Tuesday NOVEMBER 8 (ELECTION DAY!) NEW YORK Manhattan: 310 West 43rd St., 8:00 a.m.

212-408-8416 Long Island: Stop #1: LIE/495 Exit 63, Park & Ride, 7:00 a.m.

Long Island: Stop #2: LIE/495 Exit 49, Park & Ride, 7:30 a.m.

Long Island: Stop #3: Hempstead Park N.H., 8:00 a.m.

212-408-8416 Hudson Valley South/White Plains: 99 Church St., White Plains, 7:00 a.m.

Hudson Valley North/St. Luke’s Cornwall: 70 Dubois St., Newburgh, 7:00 a.m.

MARYLAND/DC Baltimore Office: 611 N. Eutaw St., Baltimore 7:45 a.m.

443-449-2099

Hudson Valley North/Orange Regional Medical Center: 707 E. Main St. Middletown, 7:00 a.m.

Capital Region South/Vassar Brothers Medical Center: 45 Reade Pl., Poughkeepsie, 7:00 a.m.

Capital Region North/1199SEIU Office: 155 Washington Ave., Albany, 7:30 a.m.

Rochester: 259 Monroe Ave., Suite 220, Rochester, 7:00 a.m.

(585) 244-0830 Buffalo: 2421 Main St., Suite 100, Buffalo, 8:00 a.m.

(716) 982-0540

New Carrollton Office: 4301 Garden City Dr., New Carrolton, 8:00 a.m.

301-341-0000

MASSACHUSETTS Quincy Hyannis Worcester Fall River/New Bedford Springfield Lawrence NEW JERSEY 1199SEIU office: 555 US-1, Iselin, NJ, 9:00 a.m.

FLORIDA Please contact your organizer for event locations and logistics, or go to www.1199seiu.org/floridaelection for more information.

July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

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Our Members

Union Women Discuss the

LONG PATH TO EQUALITY Many in our country, when asked to cite regions where women hold second-class status, often point out nations in the developing world and those with religious governments.

But recent interviews with 1199SEIU women tell a different story.

“Women in our society are still subordinate, and our work is less valued,” says Sherleen Rosa, a patient service associate at NYU Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. “I believe change will come and the situation will be different for my five-year-old daughter.”

Other members echoed Rosa’s sentiments, acknowledging the chasm between the experiences of men and women, but they also express confidence in a new era signaled by the nomination of Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.

Pat Diaz, an Orthopedic RN at University Hospital in Tamarac, FL, is dedicated to helping women climb the equality ladder.

“Someone once told me that if you’re not at the negotiating table, you’re probably on the menu,” she quips. “Being in 1199SEIU gives us a place at the table.”

There is a lot of discussion and mobilizing going at that table. “I have two grown daughters, three granddaughters and two grandsons, and their futures are powerful incentives for me to stay active,” Diaz says. “I don’t want them to live in a society where their gender or their color determines their status.”

The U.S. Census Bureau, for example, finds that on average women earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. And for women of color that gap is much worse. Our nation also fares badly in numerous areas compared to other nations.

The United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has been ratified by 186 of the 193 UN member nations. The U.S. is one of the seven countries that haven’t signed on to the agreement. Some 188 nations guarantee paid leave for mothers of newborns. The U.S. is among the handful that does not. Our Congress ranks in the bottom half of all nations in the percentage of women in their parliament or government. Women in our country are nearly twice as likely to retire in poverty as men.

Diaz was born in Belize, in Central America and recently gained her U.S. citizenship.

“I’ll be voting in a national election here for the first time,” she says. “So many strong women have made their mark, in spite of

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July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

all the obstacles. And if the wrong candidates are elected, we will be set back even further. Women can’t lose the right to choose and to control their own bodies. That’s why I’ll be working for Hillary.”

Diaz and others made they point that controlling one’s body is not just about reproduction. For example, she and others mentioned the recent Stanford rape case in which a rich white student athlete was slapped on the wrist for the rape of a young woman. “It’s amazing what a male with money can get away with,” she exclaims.

By contrast, extremists in Congress are bent on defunding any assistance for women and families, particularly for those most in need. A preferred target of theirs is Planned Parenthood, one of the few organizations that provide health care for poor women.

“All I want is an equal playing field,” says Kiera Scott, a telephone operator at Sinai Hospital in Catonsville, MD. Like many women, she holds down two full-time jobs.

Higher pay and a career ladder are vital for young women, she says.

“I also work as a medical secretary, so I get about three hours of sleep a night,” she says.

Programs that are available for some in our nation are standard in most developing countries. “I was fortunate that early in life I had women who helped guide and mold me,” says Genelle Jones, a Brookdale Hospital surgical technologist in Brooklyn.

Jones, who has been working full time since she was in high school, was fortunate to have a support system that made it possible for her to go to school while raising two children who are now 23 and 17.

“I completed my surgical tech training while I was on unemployment and my daughter was a toddler,” she says. She later found a position in an 1199SEIU institution provided additional support. “With the Union, we are able to train and upgrade and to earn continuing credits. The Union definitely has helped to level the playing field and help us realize our potential,” she says.

“We [women] are affected by so much I don’t know where to start,” says Kilra Hylton, a Boston Personal Care Attendant (PCA) for Cerebral Palsy of Massachusetts. For Hylton as for so many women, her chief issue is wages. But, she stresses that all issues, from police brutality to health care, are important to women.

“Poverty is so heavy on my

Top: For Massachusetts PCA Kilra Hylton, workers’ rights are women’s rights.

Bottom: Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital’s Keira Scott wants a level playing field.

PHOTO: JAY MALLIN

heart,” Hylton says. “That is why I got involved in the Fight For $15. I’m not saying a $15 minimum is enough, but I just want to be acknowledged for the hard work that I do.”

Hylton, who was a leader in the victorious fight for a $15 minimum for Massachusetts PCAs, says that she is able to continue her PCA work and provide for her family because of her Union support during especially dark days. Hylton, a mother of five and a grandmother of three, lost a 22-year-old son in a drive-by shooting in July 2015. The pain, she says, is unimaginable. Six weeks later, her own pain was compounded with the accidental shooting death of her eldest daughter’s husband.

Today, both are struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder.

“Adequate mental health insurance is another of my concerns.”

Hylton notes.

She stresses that it’s the help of her Union that’s made it possible for her to continue work and care for

“ Someone once told me if you’re not at the table, you’re probably on the menu. Being in 1199SEIU gives us a place at the table” ­— Pat Diaz, RN children and grandchildren.

“Through my tragedy I discovered another family—my Union,” she declares. “They all supported me, raised money and were always there for me. We have a long way to go, but I’m able to stay active and fight for women like myself because my Union has empowered me.”

Our Members

Attendees at the July 8 Syracuse launch of part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s motorcycle ride for breast cancer.

The event supported the state’s “Get, Screened, No Excuses” campaign, which marks the nation’s most aggressive effort to eliminate barriers to breast cancer screenings and treatment. The Healthcare Education Project, a labor management initiative which includes 1199SEIU, helped roll out the program with a broad-reaching public education campaign.

Early Detection Is

the Best Treatment

NYS rolls out the nation’s most aggressive program to fight breast cancer.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 40,000 women die of breast cancer each year in the United States.

Outside of some types of skin cancer, it’s the most common cancer in women, no matter their race or ethnicity. In 2013, 230,815 women (and 2,109 men) in the U.S. were diagnosed with the disease. Survival rates are shown to improve with early detection. Now, a comprehensive set of initiatives announced June 12 makes New York the state with the nation’s most aggressive action plan to improve access to breast cancer screening. The $91 million package of legislation, which includes the “Get Screened, No Excuses” campaign was originally laid out in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s January State of the State Address. It expands screening hours, removes insurance barriers, provides mobile screening sites, promotes public awareness or mammograms in underserved communities and communities of color and provides access to healthcare navigators for those diagnosed with the disease.

Tamikio Gallishaw is a CNA at The Cottages at Garden Grove in Cicero, NY. Three years ago she felt scratchy discomfort in her right nipple and thought she needed some new bras.

“I kept doctoring it up myself but it wasn’t healing and that’s when I felt the lump, so I knew I had to go to the doctor,” she says. “But I had been terminated and put off going to the doctor because I had no insurance.”

She went for a biopsy when she got a new job through the Union and regained her health insurance. Her diagnosis was a ductal carcinoma in her right breast and a benign lump in her left breast.

“I just knew it was cancer when they called me. I had a pity party for myself for a few days, but I knew I had to suck it up because that wasn’t going to cure me,” says Gallishaw.

She opted to have a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. She’s thankful for support from her husband and six children, including one son who moved back to the Syracuse area from New York City to be near her during the surgery and recovery. Her cancer support group was also invaluable, she says

“It means a lot to women and their families to have help when you are diagnosed. All you hear is cancer and it means death, but support groups help,” she says. “You have help understanding doctors. Often there are so many long words you don’t even know what they’re saying to you.”

Gallishaw practices what she preaches and has become a spokesperson for women’s self care.

She’s even been on a poster for early screening.

“We women always take care of everybody else—our children, our co-workers—we have to learn to take care of ourselves. We’re always running everyone to the doctor, but we never go,” she says. “We cannot put ourselves last anymore.”

“At the end of the day [getting screened] is a quality-of-life decision,” agrees Sara Couch, a survivor of triple-negative inflammatory breast cancer. “You can either choose to live or you can take your chances. I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t sought treatment.”

Couch, an organizer with the Healthcare Education Project in Albany, NY, was diagnosed on Christmas Eve of 2014. She found a lump in her breast while taking a shower.

“I was doing a self-exam. I had seen a poster recently and I thought I should do it,” she says.

Her type of non-hormone driven cancer is more prevalent in women under 35.

Doctors found a tumor in her left breast and she immediately went through two rounds of chemotherapy. Neither treatment was successful. The tumor returned. She eventually chose to have a mastectomy followed by radiation treatments. A January PET Scan showed no sign of cancer.

Couch, too, holds herself out as living proof of how outreach works. A poster and an exam helped save her life.

“We are really a village and a community,” she says. “And we have to let people know that often this is preventable. Caring for ourselves really is the only option we have. Programs like this are so important. Cancer rates are rising and insurance companies are cutting back on providing preventative care. It’s imperative that we reach out to high-risk communities and all kinds of women—men, too. Having this advocacy throughout our state is amazing.”

New York State Is Fighting Breast Cancer: Get Screened, No Excuses!

• Text GET SCREENED to 81336 to find free breast cancer screenings • Visit NYBreastCancerHelp.com for more information • There are extended hours of screening at 210 hospitals and hospital extension clinics for at least four hours per week to help women who have difficulty scheduling mammograms during the typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday, including 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday or Sunday.

• Eliminated are annual deductibles, co-payments, and co-insurance payments for all screening mammograms, including those provided to women more frequently than current federal screening guidelines such as annual mammograms for women in their 40s.

• Women in need of tests other than standard mammograms will not have to pay any additional out-of-pocket expenses for these most common diagnostic tests.

• Ten mobile mammography vans have been dispatched to every region across the state.

• Patient navigators are available in every region of the state to help women who have breast cancer secure access to screenings and obtain the necessary treatment.

• Community-based peer education programs are being conducted by trusted and trained educators to discuss the importance of mammograms and early detection.

July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

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Our Union

#WeAreOrlando “We have to show everyone that we are all the same, that we all have the same blood running throught our veins.”

Insanity disguised as hatred walked into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in the small hours of Sunday morning June 12, and in a torrent of bullets tried to destroy freedom and acceptance. In spite of the almost incalculable sorrow after that night, the community and its allies are working together to prove that #hatewontwin.

1199SEIU represents hundreds of Orlando-area members at several nursing homes and hospitals. An immediate call went out to determine if 1199 members or facilities in the area were directly impacted. No Pulse victims were brought to Osceola Regional Hospital—the closest 1199 institution to the scene—but staff members remained on high alert. The next 24 hours saw unprecedented mobilization with the establishment of fundraising efforts, a blood drive (that within hours drew more than 1,500 people) and grief counseling.

Much of the assistance was facilitated by a host of coalitions that included labor unions, community groups, LGBTQ and faith-based organizations.

Two days after the shooting, 1199ers learned events hit even closer to home; one of the victims, Eddie Jamoldry Justice was the nephew of longtime Rosewood Rehab member Anita Lewis.

Justice was shot to death as he was trapped in Pulse’s bathroom and frantically texting his mother for help.

In a statement released the afternoon of the disaster, 1199SEIU Pres. George Gresham promised the strength of every 1199er in support of the city of Orlando.

“We will do everything in our power to help shoulder Orlando’s burden of grief. Our caregivers throughout the area stand ready to provide the highest levels of skilled, dedicated care to the victims of the Pulse massacre and support all of those affected by these events,” said Gresham. “All of 1199SEIU joins with our sisters and brothers in the LGBTQ community–in Florida and across the nation—in condemning the hatred that breeds this violence; our Union is founded on the principle that there is no place for bigotry or intolerance in our society. An injury to one is an injury to all.”

Since the massacre, the same mobilizing coalition is continuing to build connections. 1199 and its parent union, the Service Employees International Union, have joined Orlando Solidarity—a coalition that includes Equality Florida, the AFL-CIO, the Human Rights Campaign and others. The organization promotes an inclusive progressive movement, education around LGBTQ issues within Black and Brown communities and accountability for lawmakers in the fight against gun violence. Coalition members organized a June 11 protest

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July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

at the office of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for his positions against marriage equality, the LGBTQ community and his defense of the National Rifle Association—even after the Pulse nightclub massacre. The #sitinforthe49 lasted nine hours and culminated in the arrest of 10 protesters.

Kim White, a CNA at Lake Mary Nursing and Rehab in Lake Mary, FL is from Orlando. She was among the June 11 protesters. “It was something that showed we have to think about the people we put in power. Who will stand with us? Do they share our values?,” asks White.

SEIU, 1199’s parent union, represents 19,000 public service workers throughout Florida. They include Orlando’s 911 operators and crime scene investigators.

Both groups were impacted by the immensity of the Pulse shootings.

Those workers were also among first responders to a wave of Orlando tragedies that weekend.

“Our 911 operators are already underpaid down here and they had to answer these 911 calls that were just hellacious that weekend,” says Coyuica Jones, a political organizer with 1199 Florida. “And our crime scene investigators were dealing with terrible things. They saw so much horror. They have been in need of a lot of support.”

PRIDE, NOT FEAR

“ If we elect anyone like Trump, hatred will get worse and many more lives will be lost.”

Yvonne Reyes, a medical biller at Staten Island University Hospital, walked and danced in the parade with her daughter Haley Manzo.

Reyes proudly waived the Puerto Rican flag, her tribute to the Latino victims at Pulse.

“It’s my mom’s first time ever [marching in the parade],” said Manzo, a hairstylist and makeup artist who is trans. “I’ve been trying to get her to come for a long time and support my community, so it means a lot to me.”

“I’m moving in August, so I really wanted to be here with her,” said Reyes. “After Orlando it just felt that much more important to be here. We have to show everyone that we are all the same, that we all have the same blood running through our veins whether we are gay, straight, or transsexual.”

For many, it was doubly outrageous that the nation should find itself mourning such an atrocity during national LGBTQ Pride month.

Maurice de Palo, a pharmacist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY felt it as a call to action. 1199SEIU members quickly assembled their delegation for New York City’s June 26 Pride Parade.

“This year’s parade was the most amazingly progressive parade to date. To see major corporations, unions, and leaders of the world participate was such a deep emotional experience for me. All of this is because of the hatred coalition surfacing with Donald Trump’s candidacy. And how dare he claim he is the best candidate to help ‘the gays’,” said an outraged de Palo, who marched with his partner Rene Angel Tirado. “This parade is because of the hatred we gays have experienced for decades.”

Isabella VCI home health aide Yvette Frazier helped bring the rain­ bow down Fifth Avenue. 1199’s signs memorialized Eddie Justice and called for an end to gun violence and hate crimes.

“Even though Orlando happened we can’t forget that gay and trans people are assaulted or killed every day,” said Frazier.

PHOTO: ORGANIZE NOW

Above: Yvonne Reyes, a medical biller from Staten Island University Hospital (far left) marched in this year’s NYC Pride Parade with her daughter Haley Manzo.

Below: Orlando vigil for Pulse nightclub shooting victims

T HE WORK W E DO

Vassar Brothers Medical Center 1199SEIU represents more than 700 workers at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. At various sites across Vassar’s system, 1199SEIU workers serve the community in a multitude of capacities, including housekeeping, nutrition, radiology and pharmacy.

Our Life And Times visited with some Vassar members who care for patients when they’re most vulnerable. They work in the hospital’s Level 2 Emergency Department/Trauma Center and in its Surgery and Interventional Radiology Departments. 1199ers play critical roles in these areas. They provide a broad spectrum of patient care, from bandaging minor injuries to participating in lifesaving cardiac surgery.

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July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

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1

2

5

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1. Certified OR technologists Eddie Cuevas, Bibi Yasin, Allison Harris and Jorge Molina in one of Vassar’s operating rooms. All of these technologists assist in robotic surgery. “Since they’ve been using the laparoscope, cases are quicker and patient recovery is faster,” says Harris. “Some cases come with a bit of a longer learning curve, but that’s to patients’ benefit. Newer students are being trained on them in tech programs now that robots are being more widely used.”

2. Seth Hansen-Hall has been an ED tech at Vassar for 16 years. “Every day is a new experience. You can never anticipate what’s going to happen. The ER experience is one that dwells in the moment,” he says. “I try to keep an open mind so I can approach situations in the most appropriate manner.”

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3. “I worked in nephrology for a while but I wanted to come down here,” says Liana Hernandez, an ER tech at Vassar for five years. “I like the diversity of the patients. It’s busy and you never know what’s coming, which I really like a lot.

And it’s not only the patients we help, but we also help the families. We help them through the hard times.”

4. Allison Harris has been an OR tech at Vassar for 17 years.

5. ED unit secretary Alvin Matthew is a multitasker. “We definitely have to maintain all aspects of the department,” he says. “We get a lot of requests from everyone at the same time and you have to be able to have a lot of things going in your mind at once.”

6. Tamoya Norwood has been an ED technician at Vassar for 12 years. “It’s a very busy day.

We deal with cardiac arrests, do vitals for patients, do once overs for the nurses. We’re like the eyes for the nurses. We put patients in their comfort zones,” she says.

“I like giving the kind of care I’d give my mother.”

7. Cardiovascular technologist Ron Breau is among the members who assist with the TAVR procedure, a minimally invasive heart valve replacement surgery reserved for patients too weak for open heart surgery. “TAVR involves a much larger team than we use on a regular basis. We go from a three-person team to a 15-person team, so it can be nerve-wracking to have so many people on a team at one time,” he says. “But for these patients there is often no alternative.”

Our Members

Housing Is Not a

Luxury There is national scarcity of affordable housing.

Places like NYC are confronting it with creative solutions.

There is not one single county in the Unites States that has enough affordable housing to meet the needs of its population. Not a single one.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, for every 100 extremely low-income renter* households, there were 31 units of available affordable housing. Federal funding remains a regular target for budget cuts.

Moreover, existing stock is disappearing: New York City alone lost 330,000 low-income affordable housing units between 2002 and 2014. Gentrification is forcing working people farther away from centers of employment.

Fay Jack is a homecare worker Washington, D.C.’s Human Touch Agency. She’s an activist in the D.C. Fight For $15 and in helping the District’s homecare PHOTO: JAY MALLIN

workers win their effort to organize with 1199SEIU. A resident of Gaithersburg, MD, Jack moved to the D.C. Metro area in 1985.

“I moved here when Washington was the murder capital. [Nearby] Arlington and Alexandria had a lot of Black and Latino people living in those areas,” she says. “In D.C. now there is all kinds of construction going on. You have to wonder if any of those apartments are for poor people with children,” she says. “Who is going to take care of this city’s poor people and our children after we pay those kinds of rents?”

This March, the District’s Council debated a bill that would help rehabilitate and increase access to public housing there.

Jack personally understands the importance of such legislation. She lived for a while in a shelter with her school-aged daughter (who is now an adult) after losing her job with D.C.’s Metro System. She points out that people struggling with housing often require assistance with more than finding a place to live.

“When you’re working so hard, but you’re still poor it grinds you down. Your children see things you can’t afford and they take it, and then you have to leave the job where you’ve been busting your ass to go handle that,” she says. “You can’t save any money to live. People need assistance with learning to look for a job and finding a place that’s habitable.”

The U.S. Department of Housing And Urban Development (HUD) defines housing as affordable if it consumes less than a third of a household’s total income.

But at least 55% of renters in every state spend at least half their income on rent and utilities. Even when low-wage workers are able to keep a decent roof over their heads, most are a paycheck or two away from disaster, says Margaret Passley, a home health aide who works with New York City’s Personal Touch and Premier Agencies.

“I bought a house in 2000 in East Flatbush. It was my dream.

Things were going good,” she says.

“And then cases stopped coming in. My mortgage was $1,200 a month, but I had just gotten a divorce. I had two kids. I couldn’t

Homecare workers Fay Jack (top) and Margaret Passley (bottom).

keep up with the payments and 12 years ago I lost my house. It was so hard to see my dream go like that. And then I had to find somewhere I could afford to live.

Over that time my rent has gone from $1,100 a month to $1,600 a month. And I’m not rent stabilized [so the landlords can continue to increase the rent by any amount they choose].”

To make ends meet Passley works a second job, but if she can’t get the necessary hours the month can be a struggle. “We see all kinds of buildings going up in my neighborhood, but none of them are for poor or working people,” she says.

NYC IS LEADING THE WAY TO CHANGE When Mayor Bill de Blasio elected New York City Mayor in 2012, affordable housing was one of his central campaign promises. De Blasio vowed to build or preserve at least 200,000 units in the City.

The Mayor’s plan, which 1199SEIU members vocally supported, was affirmed in March by the New York City Council and is considered a model by many national housing activists. For the first time in New York City, builders are required to include below-market rate units if they want to build in one of the rezoned areas. The plan includes significant set-asides of new units in every development and affordability requirements that benefit working families.

At a celebration in downtown Manhattan’s Foley Square, HUD Secretary Julian Castro called New York City “a beacon” in the nationwide struggle for housing affordability.

“Housing is a resource that belongs to all of us,” says Passley.

“I think the mayor’s plan is great. And I know it will help our members. I’m certainly not the only one who’s gone through something like this.”

Working people have to take housing on as a cause, especially at election time, says Fay Jack.

She now shares a comfortable, affordable rental home with her daughter. The commute to her client in D.C. is a long one, but worth having a solid place to live, she says.

“The system is geared toward the wealthy and we are treated like worker ants,” she says. “We have to raise our voices. We have to participate in elections and in our Union. We have to step out of our boxes. They [the government] won’t know what our problems are unless we keep telling them. Sometimes people look at me like I’m crazy, but I won’t stop.” *An extremely low-income renter is a renter who earns 30% or less of the area’s median income

Evicted: How The Poorest Women in America Got Locked Out In his often heart-breaking investigation of how U.S. housing policy is singularly failing the poor, Matthew Desmond chronicles the way in which eviction and its aftermath slowly unravels the lives of seven Milwaukee families. In Eviction: Poverty and Profit in the American City, his compassionate and painstakingly documented account, Desmond spent more than a year living in a condemned trailer park and later a rooming house in inner city Milwaukee.

Desmond demonstrates, in penetrating detail, how the most desperate people in our society— particularly single women with children—have fallen farther between the cracks over the past few decades. The economic and social shocks they face on the road to eviction and afterwards gradually pile up so high they form an invisible wall that becomes almost impossible to climb. There was no joy in documenting these stories, writes Desmond in his journal: “I feel dirty, collecting these stories and hardships like so many trophies.”

A theme throughout the book is America’s prevalent systematic racial discrimination. Landlords in “better” neighborhoods were much more likely to screen out people of color.

“The poor did not crowd into slums because of cheap housing.

They were there—this was especially true of the Black poor— because they were allowed to be,” writes Desmond.

Many landlords shy away from the inner city. Those who don’t realize there is money to be made from poor families. Poverty can be profitable. Policy-makers estimate that rent should take up 30 percent of a family’s income. In the worst neighborhoods, rent can easily consume 70 percent or more. Faced with such an unfavorable ratio, it is all too easy for tenants to fall behind and lose their homes.

“If incarceration had come to define the lives of men from impoverished black neighborhoods, eviction was shaping the lives of women,” writes Desmond. “Poor black men were locked up. Poor black women were locked out.”

Like many social problems that disproportionately affect women of color, the dramatic rise in evictions in America’s inner cities has received scant academic, media or policy attention until now.

EVICTED Poverty and Profit in the American City

By Matthew Desmond 418 pp. Crown Publishers. $28.

July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

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The Last Word: Gerry Hudson Gerald “Gerry” Hudson is the secretary treasurer of the 2-million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), of which 1199SEIU is the largest affiliate. Before joining the leadership of SEIU in 2004, Hudson served as an executive vice-president of 1199SEIU. While there, he oversaw the Union’s work in education, culture, communications and politics and legislation. At 1199SEIU, Hudson was a key leader in many major political, social and economic campaigns, including the election of Mayor David Dinkins, New York City’s first African American mayor. Hudson has continued to play a similar role for SEIU in the national and international arenas. Among his many contributions has been his success in connecting the issues and campaigns of labor with movements such as racial and gender equality, progressive politics, environmental justice and immigrant rights.

Our Life And Times interviewed Hudson in July.

Resolutions passed at the recent SEIU convention emphasized the importance of identifying and struggling against anti-Black racism. Please elaborate.

I don’t believe we can build an effective movement against the widening economic inequality unless we call out and struggle against the ugly racial practices and policies that undergird the inequality. Racism has always been a tool of division within the working class, but particularly since the [President Ronald] Reagan era, racism has been employed in an especially lethal way.

It has been used to shrink government and with it essential safety-net programs.

At the same time, it remains a major tool to weaken and destroy unions. We cannot build an effective fightback and workers’ collective power unless we’re able to break down barriers between workers of color and our white sisters and brothers.

Do you believe SEIU and unions in general need to explore new forms of organization to meet today’s challenges?

Yes, we do because the corporate class has figured out new ways to structure production. Today, we see all types of new arrangements. The whole set of formerly typical relationships between owners/bosses and workers are now obsolete. Take, for example, workers at a powerful chain such as McDonald’s. The corporate heads insulate themselves by ceding authority—though not profits— to subcontractors. We also witness greater decentralization in health care.

In the past, 1199 was able to win model contracts for hospital and nursing-home workers in New York by holding the state responsible. Healthcare institutions have used decentralization as a weapon to weaken and even break unions. This poses a challenge, which we have to meet by updating our structure as well as our organizing methods.

Why does SEIU focus on immigration reform as one of its key issues?

Keeping families together is, of course, a moral issue. But on a very practical level, immigration reform is about fighting for the rights of our members. Remember, about half of our members are people of color, and a significant chunk of those are either undocumented or have family members who are. There is no way for us to build power for workers as a whole without bringing these workers out of the shadow so that they can take their place in our union and in civic society.

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July/August 2016 • Our Life And Times

Is environmental justice consistent with economic development and the creation of union-wage jobs?

Yes, but that depends largely on what we do. The time for dirty energy is past.

And we must move quickly to sustainable energy sources if we want to preserve humanity and Planet Earth. In terms of development, hundreds of thousands of jobs can be created through the repairing of our infrastructure, retrofitting buildings and moving towards renewable energy.

The clean-energy economy must include a just transition for workers in the fossil fuel industry who would be replaced. It must also be an economy of union jobs with employment guarantees for people of color.

What does international solidarity, a key feature of progressive unions, look like today?

We know that capital knows no boundaries.

Companies can pull up stakes overnight and invest elsewhere, so we must always explore the possibility of working more closely with unions around the world. What has changed is that Europe and the traditional powers such as the U.S. and Japan can no longer define the terms of the relationships.

Nations like China, South Africa and Brazil will no longer accept the status of junior partner. Therefore solidarity is not charity or missionary work, but a form of mutual cooperation and co-dependence in which we and our sister unions make demands on corporations that exploit us all. We witnessed this cooperation during the Fight For $15 when McDonald’s workers in Brazil and Europe took action in solidarity with workers in the U.S. What do unions and their allies need to do to elect Hillary Clinton president, change the balance in Congress and win key reforms for working families?

First, we have to make sure our members understand that a Donald Trump victory could spell the end of the labor movement as we know it. It would mean that every branch of government would be in the hands of the enemies of labor. It also would indicate that voters had opted for authoritarian and racist populism. Therefore, we must mobilize the largest possible vote of Black, Brown and Asian-Pacific Islander voters. But as trade unionists we must also address the deepening economic insecurity of white workers who have bought into Trump’s anti-government rhetoric and false protectionism. That means electing prolabor candidates and then holding them accountable.

PHOTO: RAIMUNDO VALDEZ

“ A Trump victory could spell the end of the labor movement as we know it.” ­— Gerry Hudson

THE BACK PAGE 1199’s Weekend Warriors on the Front Lines Members are working in critical battleground states to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton. Sign up with the card included in this magazine or at www.HealthcareWorkersForHillary.org.

See story on page 8.

Photo by Jim Tynan