Nursing Home Workers at SF Jewish Home CANCEL Christmas Strike After Requests From Family

Workers Say They Hope Jewish Home Management Will Agree to Resume Negotiations
Over Affordable Healthcare

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Caregivers at the Jewish Home for
the Aged in San Francisco canceled a five-day strike that was to occur over
the holiday weekend after receiving requests from family members of Jewish
Home residents and Senator Barbara Boxer. Workers hope that Jewish Home
Management will agree to resume negotiations over affordable healthcare and
wage freezes immediately. The strike was originally scheduled after management
unilaterally implemented a contract that included cuts in benefits and wage
freezes for workers, despite the fact that the facility made over $34 million
in profits over the past five years.
Senator Boxer acknowledged that "the issues facing [Jewish Home
Caregivers] are critical to their economic survival" in a letter to SEIU 250
President Sal Rosselli. Boxer then stated in the letter that she would
"promise to do all that [she] can to help bring the parties together to
resolve the issues surrounding the contract." Senator Boxer's mother spent the
last days of her life as a resident at the Jewish Home.
Family members of residents at the facility also held a press conference
this afternoon requesting that the workers cancel the strike and management
return to the bargaining table. Workers then called off the strike as a show
of their good faith intention to try to resolve the dispute over affordable
healthcare, and hope that management will follow suit by agreeing to return to
the bargaining table.
The Jewish Home for the Aged is one of the premier nursing home facilities
in the Bay Area, in large part because of a dedicated, veteran staff of
caregivers who have committed their lives to providing top quality care to the
residents.
Jewish Home caregivers held a one-day strike on November 22 in an effort
to get management to reach a new agreement. Unfortunately, since that time,
management has not made any new offers or compromises in their position.
The licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, dietary
aides, housekeepers, porters, drivers and other caregivers at the facility,
many of whom have served the residents for over 20 years receive modest pay,
with dietary, housekeeping and laundry workers starting at $10.50 an hour, and
certified nursing assistants beginning work at $12.50 an hour. In
negotiations, workers have sought to preserve benefits and to secure small
wage increases of 3% per year -- just enough to prevent them from falling
further behind in San Francisco's astronomical cost of living. Jewish Home
management has been unwilling to work with the caregivers, and recently ended
contract negotiations by implementing an unapproved contract.
The caregivers gave their employers ten days notice of their decision to
strike so that the Jewish Home could adequately address the needs and
interests of resident care.
"We believe that honoring the requests of the family members of Jewish
Home residents and Senator Boxer is the right course of action," said SEIU 250
President Sal Rosselli. "We look forward to working with Senator Barbara Boxer
to find a mutually agreeable solution to the dispute over preservation of
affordable healthcare benefits and a living wage for Jewish Home caregivers."

With 100,000 members, SEIU 250 is the largest and fastest-growing
healthcare union in the Western U.S. We represent every type of healthcare
worker, including nursing, professional, technical, paramedic and service
classifications. Our mission is to achieve high-quality healthcare for all.

Media Contact: Kathleen Miller 510-773-7102


SOURCE SEIU 250
Web Site: http://www.seiu250.org