Our Life & Times

A JOURNAL OF 1199SEIU January/February 2010

OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS ON LIFE SUPPORT One quarter million residents of Manhattan’s lower west side and 4,000 employees, including laundry worker Paula Phillips, would suffer if St. Vincent’s Hospital closes. Pages 6 to 9.

EDITORIAL

Contents 3 4 5 6 8 10 11 12 14 15

LOOSENING THE STRANGLEHOLD We are the change we are seeking.

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN It’s time to restore the social contract.

ORGANIZING IN TOUGH TIMES Massachusetts members show the way.

WE’RE HOLDING LINE AT ST. VINCENT’S HOSPITAL Time to put people over profits.

THE WORK WE DO Saving St. Vincent’s.

N.J. MEMBERS FACE BUDGET CRUNCH Members are ready to fight.

MD-D.C. REGION LAUNCHES ORGANIZING DRIVE Members are the heart of Baltimore.

WE ARE ALL HAITIANS 1199SEIU donates $1 million to Haiti Relief.

MEMBERS MAKE USE OF EDUCATION SAFETY NET Assistance helps thousands to remain in industry.

TAX PROGRAM PUTS MONEY IN MEMBERS’ POCKETS Assistance is available.

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Our Life And Times, January/February 2010, Vol. 28, No. 1 Published by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East 310 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 Telephone (212) 582-1890 www.1199seiu.org

p.12 E DITOR : J.J. Johnson STAFF WRITE R : Patricia Kenney PHOTOG RAPH E R :

Jim Tynan PHOTOG RAPHY ASS ISTANT :

Belinda Gallegos

Loosening the Stranglehold

ART DI RECTION & DES IG N : PRES I DE NT :

George Gresham S EC RETARY TREASURE R :

Maiarelli Studio COVE R PHOTO : Jim Tynan

Maria Castaneda EXEC UTIVE VIC E PRES I DE NTS :

Norma Amsterdam Yvonne Armstrong Angela Doyle Mike Fadel Aida Garcia George Kennedy Steve Kramer Patrick Lindsay Joyce Neil John Reid Bruce Richard Mike Rifkin Neva Shillingford Milly Silva Estela Vazquez

LPN Lori Galoni

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Our Life And Times is published 6 times a year by 1199SEIU, 310 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036.

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We must step up our challenge to corporate power. uring the early days of Pres. Barack Obama’s tenure, supporters frequently quoted the late Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who during his first administration reportedly told a meeting of supporters: “I agree with you. I want to do it. Now make me do it.”

As we begin the second year of the Obama era, those words are instructive. Labor and its allies worked tirelessly in 2008 to end Republican rule and to wrest control of our economy from the stranglehold of the rich and powerful. We’ve only just begun.

By electing Barack Obama and a Democratic majority, we gained a seat at the political table. From there we’re able to help heal the wounds of our nation and pull our economy out of the ditch by putting people to work, providing health care to all and rebalancing the scale between capital and labor by removing the restrictions to organizing workplaces and negotiating contracts.

The election victories mean that working people now have far more leverage than we did under preceding administrations. And had John McCain been elected to the nation’s highest office, our current situation most assuredly would have been far worse.

On the plus side, our status has been enhanced around the world.

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The administration has replaced probusiness watchdogs with advocates in posts that oversee the environment, health, labor, women, children and civil rights. The president’s stimulus package has created or saved thousands of jobs.

But we are far from out of the woods. We have not left Iraq, and we’re escalating the war in Afghanistan. The drive for universal health care has stalled in Congress.

The official jobless rate has reached double digits, and the unofficial rate is nearly twice as high. Mortgage defaults continue to rise.

So in his Jan. 27 State of the Union address, Pres. Obama declared, “Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010.” In his address, he also lashed out at Congressional Republicans for blocking initiatives and at Democrats for lacking the courage to fight back. he president scolded the investment banks for their obscene bonuses after being bailed out by the taxpayers. But he also criticized himself and his administration for missteps during the past year. Although the president criticized the big banks, he did not explain how his administration would curb their power. Nor did he declare how he would aid states and localities straining under the weight of record budget deficits.

Thus, the task of 1199ers, labor

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and its allies remains the same: To organize in our workplaces and communities to ensure that all our elected officials place the interest of working people over those of the rich and powerful. The threatened closing of Manhattan’s St. Vincent’s Hospital is symptomatic of our nation’s misplaced priorities.

This issue highlights how we’ve begun that process, despite the bleak economic climate. We made amazing gains in 2009 and continue on that path today. For example, in 2009 the Massachusetts region organized and won a contract at Caritas Christi, the largest community-based hospital chain in the state. Other important victories were won in all our regions. nd while 1199ers battle for patients and their communities, they also have opened their hearts to the people of Haiti. Immediately after the quake, the Union donated $1 million to UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund).

As is their custom, 1199ers are able to provide exceptional care for patients, while working tirelessly on social and political initiatives and contributing time and money to heal a sister nation. The venues may be different but the struggles are the same.

1199ers put the well-being of the many over the profits of the few.

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1199ers put the well-being of the many over the profits of the few.

ORGANIZING

THE PRESIDENT’S COLUMN George Gresham

It’s Time to Restore the Social Contract We must insist governments reorder their priorities.

This issue of Our Life And Times focuses largely on our upcoming battles in our state legislatures to protect healthcare funding from short-sighted budget cuts that harm patient care and devastate (or even close) distressed hospitals, nursing homes and other providers.

It seems like, for us 1199ers, this is a never ending struggle, and it just gets harder each year as state budgets operate increasingly at a deficit. Virtually every state in the country is operating at a loss, with California, our biggest state, working with a $30 billion-plus deficit.

It would do us well to ask why our states are in so much trouble.

Let us look at the big picture.

For more than 200 years, democracies have governed based on the theory of a “social contract”—meaning that government gets its legitimacy based on the consent of the governed. Inherent in this is the idea of fair taxation—that we pay taxes in return for services, e.g. schools, health care, highways, transit systems, police and fire departments, and such.

For the past 30 years, the social contract has been under ferocious attack by the corporations, the ultra-rich and the right wing. Nobody enjoys paying taxes but, exploiting this popular sentiment, these forces and their allies in the mass media have created an anti-tax atmosphere that has at times nearly ground government to a halt.

Of course what they mean when they say “no new taxes” is no taxes at all for the corporate rich. And through legal maneuvers of the tax system, some of our largest corporations in fact pay no taxes, while working families continue to pay disproportionately to our income.

Unfortunately, this campaign has paid huge dividends to the wealthy. Over a trillion dollars in tax cuts were given to the wealthiest people in the country by George W. Bush and the Congress. Still untold trillions more were given to the banks the past two years to bail them out of the economic crisis they created.

Add to this the fact that over one half of our federal budget discretionary spending goes to the military to pay for current wars, to prepare for future wars, and for past wars. This year, we will pay more than a trillion dollars in military spending—more money than the rest of the world’s countries combined.

This has resulted in huge cuts in federal dollars to our states.

(Most states, to continue operating, then try to pass along the cuts to our counties and localities, which are then forced to raise property taxes to make up for the shortfall.)

So New York State, for example, is now operating at a $6 to 8 billion deficit. The governor, as is his custom (and was the custom of his predecessors), wants to balance the budget on the backs of our most vulnerable—healthcare patients and schoolchildren. And we in 1199SEIU gear up once again to do battle to protect our patients, our industry, our jobs and our families.

In the long run, of course, the only solutions to this ongoing crisis are to reverse our federal priorities from military spending to meeting human needs; to re-implement a progressive tax structure (the wealthy today pay less than half the taxes they did under Richard M. Nixon), and to win universal health care.

As this issue of Our Life And Times goes to press, we are still analyzing the proposed budgets in our states to decide our strategies for protecting health care. But we have a possible starting place. While millions of working families are losing their jobs, their health care, their pensions and even their homes, the banking and investment industries are handing out bonuses totaling tens of billions of dollars. Those industries are located primarily in New York. Back in the 1950s, legendary criminal Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks.

“Because that’s where the money is,” he said. And that’s where the money is still today.

Letters THE BEST EVER retired 12 years ago after about 41 years as an 1199 member. I regularly read the magazine, but never in my more than half-century with the Union have I ever read anything as inspiring as the last issue.

The pictures and descriptions of the pioneers brought back many good memories. I knew so many of the leaders who were profiled. I was a registered Republican, but I also was a devoted member for many, many years.

And I retained my membership after I became a psychiatrist.

The issue of the magazine reminded me how most newspapers and publications today fail to tell us the truth. Your magazine was nothing but the truth. I’m so impressed with it that I’m going to have my husband laminate each page, so that I can preserve and read it in the years ahead.

You should be proud of the work you do.

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TULA BEAUCHAMP Queens, N.Y.

I WAS THERE just finished reading your December 2009 issue, “50 Who Carried the 1199 Torch.” It brought back many memories of my early years as a pharmacy student and as an 1199 member as early as 1956.

There were many memorable times in my student years and later in my years as a licensed pharmacist in 1959 working in a Whelan store in Brooklyn on

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Court St. I was a Union pharmacist and spent many days walking the picket lines in the hot summer heat and the freezing winter days.

Then as history would have it, I became a partner in the conversion of the store to Drug Guild Pharmacy.

It was then that I got to know your delegate George Goodman (who you left out of the 50).

I maintained my membership in the Union for many years, but later, owners were not allowed to be Union members. When the rule was subsequently changed, I renewed my membership.

I spent many a night at meetings in NYC with Phil Kamenkowitz, Eddie Ayash, Moe Foner, Bill Taylor, George Goodman and, of course, the inimitable Leon Davis. Those were tough years for us, but we all gave it our best and we persevered.

I just thought you might want to hear from an old-timer who was there when we made it happen. Whey they called, we showed up on the lines.

BERNARD WOHLSTETTER Jackson, N.J.

GREAT TEACHING TOOL am a retired member from New York Downtown Hospital. When I received the last issue of Our Life And Times, I was impressed to see that you acknowledged the pioneers of our Union.

The articles reminded me about the old times, but, more important, they can teach younger members about the history of our Union. Too much of our history is lost, and younger members have no idea about how we were able to achieve all that we have.

Although I’m retired, I like to read about our Union and to be reminded that all I had done in the past has been acknowledged and that others are seeing the fruits of our labor.

I wish that you would write something in each issue of the magazine about our history so that our new members will better understand what we have to do to keep our Union vibrant and powerful.

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SUSHEELA DESAI Bronx, N.Y.

Organizing in Tough Times Massachusetts members win unprecedented gains.

The Massachusetts region of 1199SEIU ended the first decade of this century with unprecedented gains in organizing, contracts and political action.

Last year the region organized more than 2,000 workers in Caritas Christi, the largest community-based hospital system in the state.

Another 400 workers at Union Hospital in Lynn voted to join 1199SEIU. Also joining the 1199SEIU family were 100 nursing home workers at Tower Hill in Canton and in Lowell, 100 at Fairhaven and 25 at Glenwood.

Following organizing victories, 1199SEIU Massachusetts began contract campaigns. In December, members reached a groundbreaking four-year contract agreement at Caritas for workers at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Norwood Hospital in Norwood and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton.

The Caritas pact, which was approved by a 9 to 1 margin, includes wage increases of 3% percent in January 2010 and 4% in October 2010, as well as 2% raises in 2011 and 2012, plus more if hospital reimbursement rates increase. The contract also includes entry into the 1199SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund.

continuity of care, this agreement helps protect the bond between patients and healthcare workers,” says North Adams LPN Debbie Little.

In December, personal care attendants throughout Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly to support the first ever PCA paid time-off provision. Some 23,000 are affected. When the PCAs voted to join 1199SEIU in November 2007 it was the largest union election victory in the history of the state.

None of the region’s victories came over night. For years 1199SEIU Massachusetts methodically built its political power and community support.

The PCA victories came after intensive political and legislative campaigns that won the support of community organizations, the religious community, elected officials, caregivers and consumers.

It was in 2007 that 1199SEIU Massachusetts kicked off its free and fair union elections campaign. In January 2009, the leadership of Caritas Christi signed a pact with 1199SEIU to allow free and fair elections in its facilities.

The region also has partnered with the Boston Area Trades Council to launch the

website EyeOnBI.org, part of an effort to return Beth Israel Deaconess hospital in Boston to its founding principles and ensure that the administration is putting the interests of patients, workers and community members first.

Since 2007, the hospital has changed some of its most egregious practices in response to the web campaign, including dropping its late-night emergency room fees and revising its charity care reporting to more actually reflect its charity care.

1199SEIU Massachusetts also has helped to prevent crippling state healthcare budget cuts and to elect proworker candidates such as Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and a progressive Springfield City Council.

The region’s delegates met in Dorchester in November to review their 2009 accomplishments and chart a course for 2010. Mike O’Brien, a respiratory therapist and delegate at North Adams Regional Hospital, summed up the mood at the meeting, saying, “There’s a spirit that has been generated in the room by people being here and seeing our accomplishments.”

Further online coverage at www.1199SEIU.org/mass.

“It’s just great to come into work now. While members are happy about the wage and benefits gains, they were equally happy with the changed status the contracts represent.”

Mary Nuahn, a CNA at Norwood Hospital in Norwood, Mass.

“It’s just great to come into work now,” says St. Elizabeth’s patient care assistant Sonia Marshall. While members are happy about the wage and benefits gains, they were equally happy with the changed status the contracts represent.

“I know I have a lot to contribute toward the quality care we provide our patients,” says Norwood CNA Mary Nuahn.

“Winning this contract isn’t just about wages and benefits.

It’s about dignity and respect for all of us.”

Equally impressive was the contract victory won at North Adams Regional Hospital in the face of management attempts to wrest unprecedented concessions from 174 members.

The agreement, which members ratified unanimously, maintained all the key provisions of the previous contract.

“By keeping caregivers at the bedside and maintaining AARON DONOVAN PHOTO

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OUR UNION

“Is there any higher priority than saving lives?”

Coalition says it’s time to fight for people not banks.

OUR LINE IN THE SAND IS DRAWN AT

Left, hundreds of workers, community members and other supporters joined a Jan. 28 rally in Manhattan to save St. Vincent’s.

Below, St. Vincent’s staffers were among the first to treat victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

ST. VINCENT’S It’s time to put people ahead of the bottom line. This was the message of a Jan. 28 emergency town hall meeting to save St. Vincent’s Hospital held at Greenwich Village’s Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church.

Speaker after speaker—patients, staffers, management and elected officials—warned that if New York State’s Department of Health is willing to close the 160-year-old bedrock of the Lower Manhattan and West Side community, no institution is safe. n recent years, Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center (SVCMC), the hospital’s parent organization, has been facing severe financial hardships. It filed for chapter 11bankruptcy protection in February 2007, but it is still operating at a steep deficit.

Two SVCMC hospitals in Queens—Mary Immaculate and St. John’s—closed last year, leaving St. Vincent’s as the last remaining Catholic hospital in New York City.

In a January statement, the New York State Department of Health (DOH), which oversees hospitals in the state, reported that St. Vincent’s has not remained competitive.

The statement also indicated that St. Vincent’s management had determined that St. Vincent’s is no longer viable as a standalone community hospital and that it needed to seek a corporate partner.

It was this report and rumors of a possible sale and downsizing of St. Vincent’s that precipitated the Jan. 28 rally. “I’ve never seen such a quick and forceful reaction from the community and our elected officials,” said 1199SEIU Political and Legislative Director Kevin Finnegan.

The urgency and resolve was reflected in the spirit of the rally and impassioned speeches. New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn reflected the attitude of the several hundred participants crowded into the church auditorium when she declared to feverish applause: “If AIG was too big to fail, then St. Vincent’s is certainly too important to fail.”

Sister Dorothy Metz, president of the Sisters of Charity, the order that founded the

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hospital in 1849, noted that the hospital’s emphasis is on patient-focused healthcare, with a special mission to provide care for the poor and disenfranchised.

She outlined some of the history of the storied institution: It has treated survivors of the U.S. Civil War and of the passenger ship Titanic. Its ambulance was the first to reach survivors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911. It was the first hospital to treat AIDS patients in the early 1980s. t. Vincent’s also treated the survivors of the 1993 World Trade Center terrorist bombing as well as survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“It is important for St. Vincent’s to be here in the event of another terrorist attack,” declared Manhattan Borough Pres. Scott Stringer at the rally. “But it’s just as important for St. Vincent’s to be here to treat heart attacks.

Speakers noted that St. Vincent’s is the last remaining hospital with a level 1 trauma center and emergency room from midtown south to the tip of the borough. If St. Vincent’s shuts its doors, Roosevelt Hospital, about two-and-a-half miles north of St. Vincent’s, would be the nearest emergency room. In crowded Manhattan, traveling such a distance often is the difference between life and death.

Newly elected City Comptroller John Liu told the rally that closing St. Vincent’s doesn’t make sense even from an economic standpoint. “We’ve lost 16 emergency rooms in the city since 2002. That has cost us lives as well as revenue. He cautioned that the

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state DOH must take into account the loss of jobs, businesses and tax revenue in its calculations. he most compelling arguments came from the patients who described St. Vincent’s as a lifeline and part of the fabric of the community whose loss would leave a gaping hole in their neighborhoods and their lives.

Two members of the Committee of Interns and Residents—Dr. Jay Mathur and Dr. Angela Ferguson—stirred the audience with descriptions of the role of St. Vincent’s in the West Side community. Dr. Mathur handed the microphone to two of his

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patients. One young woman declared, “I’m only 21 but St. Vincent’s has already saved my life several times.”

“St. Vincent’s turns no one away and now it is being targeted because of its patient population,” said 1199er Eric Wilson, chief of surgical perfusion at St. Vincent’s. To calls of “Amen,” Wilson closed by quoting the Bible: “Remember, what you do to the least of them, you do unto me.”

“We cannot let St. Vincent’s be penalized for doing what is right and compassionate,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

The rally attendees declared that they would not let it happen. Ward clerk Clifton James has worked at St. Vincent’s for 15 years. His mother retired after working 32

years at the hospital. “We are all one here fighting together—1199, CIR, NYSNA (New York State Nurses Association) and management.”

Bill de Blasio, newly elected NYC public advocate, told the rally that it’s time to question our elected officials and the role of government. “This is not what New York is about. There should be no higher priority than saving lives. If not, we are losing our very souls.”

On Feb. 3, Governor Paterson appointed a task force, including representatives of 1199SEIU, to suggest a plan to keep the hospital open. The task force was given four weeks to complete its task.

For updates, log on to www.1199SEIU.org.

THE WORK WE DO

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THE WORK WE DO

St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan Saddened members say closing the historic institution would endanger lives as well as livelihoods.

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t. Vincent’s Hospital has served the neighborhoods of lower Manhattan for more than 160 years.

Its workers have treated survivors of the Titanic and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

It was at the forefront of treatment of the AIDS epidemic and is the only Level 1 trauma center in lower Manhattan. St. Vincent’s has always treated the poor and indigent. Now the hospital is drowning in red ink generated by spiraling healthcare costs and mismanagement. St. Vincent’s is threatened with closure, and emergency and acute care for tens of thousands of New York City residents is in jeopardy.

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1. “It’s unfortunate for our patients,” says pharmacist Serena Fallon. “We have such a strong history of excellent patient care. We’re working like the walking wounded and we just want to do what’s best for our patients.”

closed last year. “It’s not a good feeling to go from one extreme situation to another extreme situation,” says Garner. “But I’m trying to do what I need to do to survive. I have a family. It’s a lot of responsibility, but I know we’ll make it.”

2. Food service worker Margarette Beckford, left, works with a team preparing lunches in St. Vincent’s kitchen. Beckford has been at St. Vincent’s for 20 years. “It’s terrible what’s happening,” she says.

6. Sandra Paulino has been a CNA at St. Vincent’s for 36 years. “It’s overwhelming,” says Paulino of St. Vincent’s possible closure. “But I’m just praying and keeping the faith.”

3. “It’s so sad for something like this to be happening. I want to retire from here,” says food service worker Myrtle Weekes. “I don’t want to go somewhere else to look for a job, especially at the age of 61.”

4. Chikkeeta Grant has been a dietary worker for 16 years. “I’m feeling very lost,” says Grant.

“I wasn’t expecting to happen what happened.

People wonder where they’re going to go and how they’ll pay their bills.”

5. Cook Richard Garner came to St. Vincent’s when Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens

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7. “It’s like I was born and raised in this place,” says Marilyn Holmes, who has worked in St. Vincent’s laundry for 31 years. “If they close this place, too many people will be taken from us, especially with the ER, trauma unit and preemie unit gone. They need to keep these doors open.”

8. Pharmacy tech Diana Newball has been at St. Vincent’s for 28 years. “When I came here our work was what the Sisters of Charity did,” she says. “We took homeless people off the street, washed them and gave them a hot meal.

Now they put this hospital into the hands of others, and it’s not being taken care of correctly.”

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ORGANIZING

POLITICS

Workers launch “Heart of Baltimore” campaign “If we work hard enough, we can win.”

A year after the historic election of President Barack Obama, 1199SEIU members from the Maryland/DC region are using the energy generated and lessons learned from their election work to help realize the promises of the Obama campaign. That energy is fueling the Heart of Baltimore campaign, which is uniting healthcare workers across Baltimore for quality care, quality jobs and fair union elections.

Health care is the largest industry in Baltimore, accounts for one in five jobs, and powers the local economy. Baltimore’s healthcare workers are shortchanged, however, in comparison to caregivers in other East Coast cities. Their counterparts in Washington, New York and Philadelphia all make more on average—30 percent more in New York.

Keeping healthcare workers’ wages low depresses the standard of living for the entire community, so 1199 members are coming together to make a change. The campaign stresses that when all Baltimore healthcare workers have a voice, it will not only raise job standards but also help foster an economic recovery for the city overall and expand the middle class.

N.J. Members Face Anti-union Administration Governor will push to cut Medicaid budget. ew Jersey 1199SEIU members are bracing themselves for a less union-friendly environment with the election of Republican Chris Christie as governor, but it is a reality that members are prepared to overcome.

“The fact is, we were going to have a hell of a fight in Trenton, regardless of who was elected Governor,” says Roz Waddell, a CNA from Voorhees nursing home, referring to what will be an uphill budget battle this year.

New Jersey faces a $2 billion deficit and more than a handful of legislators on both sides of the aisle have used the word “broke” to describe the State's finances. This bleak fiscal outlook will add more pressure on legislators to cut Medicaid, which is the primary funder of 1199 nursing homes in N.J. “We are 1199 and we will continue to fight for funding that our residents need and deserve and the workers rely on to survive,” added Waddell.

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Members from New Jersey’s Omni NH at recent contract negotiations.

1199SEIU is continuing its public fight for a fair contract for Omni workers.

“We are 1199 and we will continue to fight for funding that our residents need and deserve and the workers rely on to survive.”

—Roz Waddell CNA, Voorhees NH, N.J.

ithin the larger context of state budget woes, our New Jersey region will also be closely monitoring the State’s initiative to overhaul its nursing home rate setting and move to a more complete case mix system. The overhaul would create a more streamlined system where homes would be reimbursed at higher rates for caring for sicker residents.

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With the harsher political realities in Trenton, the region will be directing its political capacity to build more locally in 2010. Strategies will include a new emphasis on expanding and deepening links to community-based organizations as well as building political committees in high membership density counties. ov. Christie moved to weaken labor’s influence when on his first day in office he signed an executive order adding unions to the list of groups that are barred from receiving state contracts of more than $17,500 if they had donated more than $300 to a campaign for governor or county political committee in the previous 18 months.

1199SEIU and other unions have strongly protested the ruling, noting that a union collective bargaining agreement is far different from a corporate contract.

Also moving into 2010, the union is continuing its very public campaign against N.J. OMNI nursing home boss Avery Eisenreich in a fight for a fair contract for 400 workers at Castle Hill, Harborview, Palisades and Bristol Manor nursing homes.

Since late last year, the Union has been running a comprehensive communications campaign -- including TV, radio and bus shelter advertisements -- to educate the public about Eisenreich’s enormous profits and about care issues related to short supplies and poor treatment of workers.

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Delegate Blanche Santana, 51, remembers a more difficult time for union activism. In 1984, Santana, now an administrative associate at Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital, helped organize the Community Resource Center for the Developmentally Disabled in the Bronx where she was a direct care counselor. The effort to join 1199 took a year and was difficult for workers at the facility. “We used to have to have secret meetings in people’s houses, but it’s more open now,” she says.

Santana attended the Heart of Baltimore kick-off conference in the fall of 2009 and has already participated in a canvass of healthcare workers’ homes. She is looking forward to upcoming work, including a rally and more canvasses, saying “We’re reaching out to the people and getting their minds right” about unions and healthcare workers. “My message to people is please support the Heart of Baltimore. I let them know that they have free choice and how a union will help them.”

One of her son’s friends works at a non-union hospital in Baltimore and he surprised her by pointing her picture out on a piece of 1199 literature. “He’s 18 and has no knowledge about unions, so I was telling him about all the positive things we can do.

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He has a better opportunity now than I did when I was organizing my workplace in the Bronx.”

Synkeithia Holly, a nutrition associate at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., also participated in last fall’s conference. She sees the enthusiasm members have for the organizing campaign stemming from the region’s Obama campaign activism. “A lot of 1199 members came out and voted and worked in the presidential elections because we knew our voice would be heard.

We worked so hard on that campaign and saw results, so I think 1199 workers feel like we can make a change for Baltimore healthcare workers now.”

Holly volunteered for every “Weekend Warrior” mobilization to Virginia and on Election Day in Pennsylvania “because I believed that we needed change.”

The 2008 election was the 27year-old’s first presidential campaign experience. “I got involved because I thought, ‘when I get old, what am I going to tell my kids that I did?’ I can tell them that I did that.”

Santana was also a Weekend Warrior, helping Democrats win Virginia for the first time since 1964. Though she hasn’t seen all the change she wanted after the president’s election, Santana says, “He can’t clean it up overnight.”

Blanche Santana, a delegate at Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital, at the 1199SEIU children’s holiday party last December.

She is encouraged by the progress on issues like healthcare reform, saying, “I think health care reform is like other 1199 campaigns. If we work hard enough, we can win.”

Santana looks forward to making change with the Heart of Baltimore campaign, saying, “Our Union will grow and have more strength and unity. We are going be awesome in Baltimore.”

For more information log on to www.theheartofbaltimore.org.

Synkeithia Holly, nutrition associate at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

“A lot of 1199 members came out and voted and worked in the presidential elections because we knew our voice would be heard.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF MT. SINAI HOSPITAL

OUR MEMBERS

Suzette Jean-Volny (top), a home attendant at Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Independent Living Agency, lost her father, her brother and her brother’s three children in the Haitian earthquake. Noamie Armand (bottom), also an Independent Living home attendant, lost an uncle, a cousin and five other relatives.

We Are All Haitians

A volunteer surgical team from Manhattan’s Mt. Sinai Medical Center, shown working in Port Au Prince, included two 1199SEIU OR techs.

They were among the hundreds 1199 volunteers.

1199ers open hearts and wallets. he Jan. 12 earthquake that leveled much of Haiti, took the lives of at least 150,000 of its residents and left at least 2,000,000 homeless reverberated around the world.

The 7.0 magnitude quake devastated the capital city of Port-au-Prince and destroyed the presidential palace, parliament, and many other important social and cultural structures along with countless homes and businesses.

The large-scale destruction has made it impossible to identify all the victims. In early February, bodies were still being unearthed.

The sorrow and pain caused by the deaths and destruction are especially devastating to the tens of thousands of 1199ers of Haitian descent who lost loved ones in the disaster. And while members took time to mourn their losses, they wasted no time in organizing assistance for survivors and relatives affected by the losses.

“This tragedy has hit 1199SEIU very close to home,” said 1199SEIU Pres. George Gresham one day after the quake. “Our union has tens of thousands of members who are of Haitian descent in New York and Boston.”

In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino and the Boston Public Health Dept. designated the 1199SEIU Boston office as the official support and referral center where members of the Boston Haitian committee could come for assistance. Boston is home to the third largest

Haitian community in the U.S. As of this writing, the leadership of 1199SEIU continued to attempt to identify members, retirees and relatives who perished in the quake. One is Marie Anacreon, a CNA at New York’s Port Chester NH who was visiting relatives in Port-au-Prince when the quake struck.

Services were held for Anacreon and her mother, who also died in the quake, on Jan. 30 in N.Y. Several 1199SEIU members who lost loved ones in the earthquake attended a Jan. 25 press conference at the Union’s Manhattan headquarters to announce 1199SEIU relief efforts.

Bernadette Poulard, a North Shore LIJ nursing home CNA, lost a 27-year-old cousin.

“I lost my father, my brother and his three children,” said Suzette Jean-Volny, a home attendant at Brooklyn’s Independent Living.

“I lost my mother when I was two, so I was raised by my father. It’s hard for me to talk about it,” she said through tears.

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“The Haitian people will prevail because of friends like you.”

—New York Gov. David Patterson

On Jan. 25 1199SEIU Pres.

George Gresham (far right) and Sec. Treas. Maria Castaneda (far left) presented UNICEF with union’s $1 million contribution towards Haiti relief efforts.

January/February • Our Life And Times

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ith Jean-Volny was another Independent Living home attendant, Noamie Armand.

“I lost an uncle, a cousin, the cousin’s wife and their four children,” Armand said. “I have other relatives I have not been able to reach or get news about, so I don’t know if they survived.”

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January/February • Our Life And Times

Armand had a cast on her hand because she was so distraught after learning about the quake that she fell and broke her hand.

Armand and Jean-Volny said that their sorrow was eased by learning that 1199SEIU was contributing $1 million to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for relief efforts.

The Jan. 25 press conference was called to announce the donation, which was unanimously agreed upon Jan. 15 at the Union’s Executive Council meeting. A slew of elected officials and dignitaries attended the press conference to lend support.

“Once again, 1199SEIU has provided leadership by stepping up to the plate,” declared Ken Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association.

“Thank you, 1199. How many times have I been in this room to support a good cause,” said N.Y. Gov. David Paterson. “And there is no situation more in need of our service than this one.” ov. Patterson traced Haiti’s two centuries of exploitation after it became the first independent nation in Latin America and the first independent black-led republic.

“The Haitian people will prevail because of friends like you,” he said.

“Few gifts have touched our hearts the way yours has,” said Caryl Stern, president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. “You can be sure that we will not go away when the cameras leave Haiti. These are not Haiti’s children we are helping. These are our children.”

In addition to contributing thousands of dollars, 1199ers have come forward to help by doing whatever is needed. Hundreds have volunteered to perform relief work in Haiti. Two Mt. Sinai Hospital OR techs – Augie Inneh and Duckens Louis – joined the Manhattan hospital’s surgical team in Haiti that for one week in January treated survivors by setting up an operating room in a tent.

“We are doing this not just to help with Haiti’s emergency needs, but to help with the nation’s long-term goal of building a new Haiti,” said 1199SEIU Sec. Treas. Maria Castaneda at the Jan. 25 press conference.

Other speakers called for turning the tragedy into a new beginning. Several made the point that by helping Haiti we help ourselves and that we’re all Haitians now.

To assist in Haiti relief efforts log on to wecareforhaiti.org or call 877-875-6561.

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An Able Partner The. U.S. Fund for UNICEF is the New Yorkbased non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) that supports the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Founded in 1947, it is the oldest of the 36 UNICEF National Committees that support UNICEF worldwide through fundraising, advocacy and education.

UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world.

Working in over 150 countries, UNICEF provides children with health care, clean water, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF supports UNICEF’s work in the United States.

UNICEF is at the forefront of efforts to reduce child mortality worldwide. There has been substantial progress -- the annual number of under-five deaths dropped from 13 million in 1990 to 8.8 million in 2008. But still, 24,000 children die each day from preventable causes.

UNICEF’s mission is to do whatever it takes to make that number zero by giving children the essentials for a safe and healthy childhood.

Simone Manual, a CNA at Syracuse’s Loretto nursing facility, with daughter Janaija Powell, waiting to see tax preparer at the Union’s office in Syracuse in January.

OUR MEMBERS

EITC Program puts money back in members’ pockets.

“It’s really important, especially in this economy.”

With help from the 1199 Training Fund, Lori Galoni (left) advanced from CNA to LPN at Syracuse’s Loretto nursing facility. Below, Lydia Ninemeyer, a home health worker with Loretto’s PACE CNY, also participated in an LPN training program.

“It’s Just Better to Know More and Have More Skills.”

With education, members buck the economic trend.

Community colleges across the U.S. are reporting an uptick in enrollments even as their budgets are squeezed.

The same is true for many of 1199SEIU’s training programs.

housands of working people are pursuing educational opportunities as a way to keep their families moving up the ladder during the economic downturn.

1199SEIU is giving may of them a hand through the nation’s largest worker training program, the 1199SEIU Employment, Training and Job Security Program (ETJSP).

Last year, supported by the ETJSP’s Training and Upgrading Fund (TUF), Lori Galoni finished the LPN program at Syracuse’s Central Tech and started working at Syracuse’s Loretto nursing facility where she’d been a CNA for five years. Galoni went to school part time for 18 months. Now she’s earning better pay and planning to become an RN. “It was a challenge with my kids and my husband,” says Galoni. “But they were there when I needed them. It was hard finding time to study, but if they knew I had something to do, they were helpful. It was hard going back to school after so many years. But it was worth it.”

Last year her husband was laid off from his auto body repair job. Galoni says they weren’t hit as hard as they could have been because of her pay increase.

“We had been used to my CNA salary, but because we’re on my LPN salary now everything sort of evened out,” says Galoni.

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n a speech last year before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Pres. Obama said education and advanced training are a necessity in the 21st century for workers of every age. Sotetia Fidelia, 41, a CNA at New York Hospital Flushing in Queens, N.Y., agrees with him. She’s prepped for and taken the GED with help from the TUF and will be applying to a nursing program at a local college.

“Going to college is something totally new for me,” says Fidelia, a mother of two daughters, ages 10 and 2. “I’d like to go full time. I’d rather go back to school now and get an education and a better job than be working

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and worrying about overtime. You can’t always get overtime. Plus I know that when I’m done with school I’ll have a better job. And I’ll be able to help people. That’s just great.”

Community colleges across the U.S. are reporting an uptick in enrollments even as their budgets are squeezed. The same is true for many of 1199SEIU’s training programs.

“We did see an increase in some of our programs,” says Deborah King, executive director the ETJSP. “And particularly in some of the regions where the Training and Upgrading Fund is new.” reater Baltimore Medical Center central sterile tech Michael Neely is studying at Baltimore City Community College to become a surgical technologist. The program, which Neely attends with help from the TUF, consists of classroom study and onthe-job training.

“With all these economic changes it’s just better to know more and have more skills,” he says. “As a central sterile tech, there aren’t too many places for me to move, so I decided to take up the challenge and go to the next level.”

At the end of his two-year program Neely will have an associate’s degree, a new profession and a higher salary.

“In these times you can’t just go out and get a high paying job, especially with only a high school diploma,” says Neely. “And I know that nothing in this life is promised, but it gives me a good feeling when there is a challenge.”

Lydia Ninemeyer works for Loretto’s home health agency PACE CNY. She’s also recently completed the 18-month LPN training course through the TUF. She’s now preparing to take the certification exam.

“It was more than I thought. It was quite a workload,” says Ninemeyer. “But it was worth it. If you have education you have something behind you.”

For more information, and to determine your eligibility, log on to www.1199seiubenefits.org.

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January/February • Our Life And Times

AROUND OUR UNION

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Thousands of 1199SEIU members are taking advantage of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a refundable income tax credit for low-income working families. In 2009 alone, 9,440 1199ers received nearly $35 million in refunds.

For almost a decade 1199SEIU has partnered with employers, community groups and coalition partners to encourage members to apply for the refund as well as help them prepare their taxes.

“Before the EITC I usually went to H&R Block and they charged me almost $500,” says Simone Manual, a CNA at Loretto in Syracuse, N.Y. Manual had her taxes done at the EITC program site in 1199SEIU’s Syracuse offices in January. She was using the program for the second time and says the program helped her get money back she didn’t even know she was entitled to.

“My refund helped me catch up on my bills,” says Manual. I’m a single mother. Last year I got almost $7,000 back.”

Danielle Gates, a patient financial services representative at Kaleida Health in Buffalo, N.Y., has been getting tax preparation assistance through the program for the last three years.

“At H& R Block they want to charge you all this money to do your taxes,” says Gates. “I was able to save a lot of money with the help of the Union. I was also entitled to a lot of refund money as a student that I didn’t even know about. It’s really important, especially in this economy. I don’t qualify for financial aid and even though I get money from the training fund, these refunds help a lot. Plus, this service shows members that the Union really has our back.”

Members are eligible for the EITC if their income in 2009 was $43, 279 ($48,279 married filing jointly) with three or more dependent children; $40,295 ($45,295 married filing jointly) with two dependent children; $35,463 ($40,463 married filing jointly) with one dependent child; or $13,440 ($18,440 married filing jointly) with no dependent children.

Throughout the regions, 1199SEIU has sites staffed with trained prepares to help members file their taxes for free. In New York City, the National Benefit Fund (NBF) oversees the program. Assistance is available at tax preparation events, which are being held on various dates through April 10 at the NBF’s Manhattan headquarters at 330 W. 42nd St. and at the 1199SEIU Healthcare Training Center at 2501 Grand Concourse in the Bronx. For more information about dates and locations, log on to www.1199nbf.org, email Member.ServicesEmail@1199Funds.org or call (646) 473-9200. In the regions, 1199SEIU oversees the program. Following is the list of program sites. Members can call the phone numbers provided for more information or to make an appointment.

BALTIMORE (410) 332-1199 611 North Eutaw Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 The program ends on March 18, 2010 BUFFALO (716) 982-0540 and ask for Carla at ext. 210, Carolyn at ext. 222 or Kim at ext. 219.

Union office 974 Kenmore Ave., Buffalo, NY 14216 The program ends on April 15, 2010.

GOUVERNEUR (North Country) (315) 287-9013 ext. 11 95 East Main Street, 2nd Floor, Suite 4, Gouverneur, NY 13642, End Date: April 15, 2010 MASSACHUSETTS (877) 409-1199 Boston Office - 150 Mt Vernon Street, 2nd Fl., Boston, MA 02125 Springfield Office - 20 Maple Street, Springfield MA Hyannis Office - 29 Bassett Lane Hyannis, MA The program ends on April 15, 2010 ROCHESTER (585) 244-0830 Union Office - 225 West Broad Street, Rochester, NY 14608 Strong Memorial Hospital - By Appointment Only – 601 Elmwood Ave., Main Cafeteria, Rochester, NY The program ends on April 15, 2010.

SYRACUSE (315) 424-1743 ext. 111 The program ends on April 15, 2010

HERE’S WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU: • Photo ID. Bring a second government-issued photo ID if you want to open a bank account.

• Social Security Cards (must bring the original, a copy or a copy of last year’s tax return) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN); and dates of birth for yourself and all family members you are claiming. You must bring your children’s social security cards.

• W-2s for all jobs held in 2009 and any other tax-related documents.

• Form 1099-G if you received unemployment insurance in 2009.

• Form 1099-INT if you received interest from a bank account in 2009.

• Documentation of expenses and ID or Social Security number of childcare agency or provider if you are claiming childcare expenses.

• A sample check, if you want the IRS to direct deposit your refund.

• Prior year’s tax returns if you have them.

• If married and filing jointly, both spouses must be present.

Notice of right to limit obligation to union to payment of fees equal to initiation fee and monthly dues and to object and limit obligation to union to payment of representation fee Membership in 1199SEIU is very special. Not only are there material benefits which flow from membership, but as a member of 1199SEIU you can participate with your co-workers in making vital decisions that affect you and your families' lives: what wage increases, health insurance and pension benefits will be in your collective bargaining agreement, whether or not you will strike, whom you entrust with the leadership of your Union. These are decisions that only union members can make. The gains we have won— enjoyed by you and your co-workers—are the direct result of the unity and strength of 1199SEIU’s members. It is because of our large and powerful membership that we receive the highest wages and health and pension benefits, and the best job security, of all health care workers. Union membership also carries with it the responsibility to help finance the union's programs through monthly dues, to ensure the strength and vitality of the Union, which translates into your wage and benefit levels.

If your collective bargaining agreement has a union security clause you are obligated as a condition of employment to become a member

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January/February • Our Life And Times

of the union within 30 days of your date of hire and to remain a member, or to pay fees to the union equal to the standard initiation fee and monthly dues. Federal law requires 1199SEIU to notify the membership that an individual covered by a collective bargaining agreement can choose not to be a member of 1199SEIU, and still receive the terms of the collective bargaining agreement (but not the benefits of union membership). If you choose not to be a member, and thus to forgo the benefits of union membership, under the collective bargaining agreement your obligation is limited to the payment of fees equal to the initiation fee and monthly dues.

In addition, under federal law you have the right to object to providing financial support to union activities not germane to collective bargaining, in which case you will be required to pay a representation fee equal to initiation fees and dues reduced proportional to the percentage of the Union's total expenditures that are not germane to collective bargaining.

Based upon the most recent accounting, the representation fee is currently 61.54% of union

dues (which generally equals 1.23% of an average 1199er’s gross pay exclusive of overtime), meaning that for the average worker the difference between monthly union dues and the monthly representation fee is currently only about $4.00 a week. However, by choosing this option you forgo the benefits of Union membership including, but not limited to, the right to vote for your Officers and Delegates, the right to vote on Constitutional amendments and the right to participate in contract ratification votes.

If you submit an objection, you will be provided with information reflecting the bases on which the representation fee was calculated and the procedure for challenging these calculations before a neutral arbitrator. If you choose not to be a member of 1199SEIU, and thus to limit your obligation to the payment of fees equal to the initiation fee and monthly dues, or if you wish to object to providing financial support to union activities not germane to collective bargaining, and thus to limit your obligation to the payment of a representation fee as described above, you

must inform the union in writing by sending notice of your decision to the SecretaryTreasurer, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, 310 West 43rd Street, New York, New York 10036. Please include your name, address, social security number, name of employer and work location. If you object to providing financial support to union activities not germane to collective bargaining, make sure that the notice you send to the SecretaryTreasurer includes the word "object," and that you mail your notice no later than 30 days from the date you received this notice.

Remember, the more Union members, the greater is the strength of 1199SEIU, which ultimately means better contracts with higher wages and better benefits for you and your family. All of 1199SEIU’s expenditures benefit health care workers, including those directly related to collective bargaining, like the cost of arbitrations and negotiations, as well as its legislative expenditures, such as those supporting health care reform, the Employee Free Choice Act and the extension of the Family and Medical Leave Act for all workers.

THE BACK PAGE

Moving Up the Ladder Lydia Ninemeyer, a home health worker with Loretto’s PACE CNY in Syracuse, N.Y., puts her client Carmela Arbaszewski, who is 86 and has Alzheimer’s Disease, to bed. Ninemeyer recently participated in an LPN training program through the 1199SEIU Training Fund. She’s one of thousands of workers heeding the call to pursue educational opportunities in the economic downturn.

See story on p.14.