HARTFORD, Conn. — Gov. Ned Lamont issued sent a letter on Tuesday to the Connecticut National Guard requesting assistance if nursing home workers go forward with a planned strike later this week.
Nearly 4,000 health workers are set to begin a strike on Friday if negotiations between the union and the nursing homeowners fail.
"I authorize you to immediately call up a sufficient force of members of the armed forces of the state to support as needed the Department of Public Health in protecting the public health and safety in response to any potential work stoppage or strike of workers at long-term care facilities or other congregate settings in the state beginning on or about May 14, 2021," Lamont wrote in the letter.
Nursing home workers say they're tired of poor working conditions through the COVID-19 pandemic. They are demanding better pay and a fix to staffing shortages at many facilities.
On Monday, the Yale Law School Clinic released a new report saying Connecticut’s nursing home workers continue to struggle with staffing shortages, a lack of protective equipment and low pay.
The report, titled “‘We Were Abandoned’: How Connecticut Failed Nursing Home Workers and Residents During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” based on a study of Department of Public Health documents and worker interviews.
The report, also conducted by SEIU District 1199NE, describes unsafe conditions, understaffed facilities, inadequate compensation, and a lack of state oversight.
On Monday, Connecticut officials proposed adding an additional $280 million in funding for nursing homes in an effort to avoid
Lamont’s administration proposed the extra funding Monday. It includes $149.5 million for 4.5% wage increases for nursing home workers in the next two fiscal years. There was no immediate response from union or industry officials.
The state also said it will "more than double" the funding increase in the Appropriations Committee budget by giving increases to the industry in the fiscal years 2022 and 2023. This will be in turn used for employee wage enhancements.
Connecticut added it will also provide retirement enhancement, work with the legislation for hazard pay premium payments, workforce development over three years, and child care expanded options.
District 1199 New England, SEIU released a response to the state's proposal Tuesday afternoon, saying it would not "both lift nursing home workers out of poverty and improve staffing numbers for direct care services."
“We are facing a critical situation in the nursing home industry with workers trapped in poverty. Operators cannot find enough job applicants to hire at current industry wages. The reduced staffing teams of existing nurses, assistants, and other supports bear the brunt of ruthless workloads, and vulnerable patients and residents get less time of direct care,” said Rob Baril, president of District 1199 New England, SEIU.
Baril added, “The governor’s proposal would not provide the funding needed to right the wrongs of COVID-19 and to correct decades of chronic devaluation of the nursing home labor sector, whose workers are majority Black, Brown, and White working-class women,” said Baril. “Workers have suffered untold trauma in the last year, with thousands of resident deaths and nearly two dozen worker fatalities in our union.”
The union then finished its response by condemning the governor and calling on him to provide the funding it is asking for.
“As the governor calls on the National Guard to support nursing homes during the strike, we call on him and his team to put those resources to better use by funding the services provided by nursing home workers. The danger of the work and the low wages have created an extreme staffing crisis. This is an urgent matter of racial and economic justice,” said Baril. “We think that it is appalling that the governor is protecting the COVID-19 bounties of the wealthiest individuals in the wealthiest state of the country rather than raising standards to livable wages, affordable health care and retirement security for long-term care workers.”
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