Nursing home wage increases help retain and recruit more staff
For more than 10 years, CSEA has seen an increase in privatization of public nursing homes. This seemed like a good fix for many New York counties facing deep budget woes, but at what human cost?
As predicted, a degradation of wages, increase in employee turnover and loss in quality of care due to dangerously low staffing levels resulted. Enter the pandemic in March 2020.
Staffing levels plummeted even further past this already bare-bones, high profit model putting more stress on CSEA-represented registered nurses, licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and certified nursing assistants (CNAs). The nurses and CNAs stepped up maintaining care services, flexed and adapted their practices, were on the forefront of using personal protective equipment (PPE), elevated health standards and became vaccinated very early on, preventing the projected thousands of lives lost.
CSEA’s position is the same for both public and privately owned nursing homes and has been a part of everyday conversation with facility owners and management: increase the amount of good, qualified and experienced staff to compete and deliver quality care for residents.
Higher wages lead to better working conditions and promoting longevity and better safety and health. Our union knows that overworked, stressed staff face burnout and a higher potential for workplace injuries and resident incidents.
“We are going through this discussion right now in negotiations,” said former CSEA Fulton Center Nursing Home Local President Patty Walters.
Walters added that CSEA members must be coordinated on this issue. Several of the CSEA-represented private sector nursing homes are owned by the same parent company.
Youngs
“We are stronger when everybody pulls together,” said Steuben Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Local President Leland Youngs. “Things won’t change if we don’t stick together.”
Youngs said they are also in negotiations on this issue.
Reese
“Wages need to be raised across the board for both existing and new hire nursing titles to attract and retain staff and solve our staffing issues,” said Van Duyn Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Local President Lonnesa Reese.
Although CSEA has seen significant progress in several private sector nursing homes, there is much more work to do.
CSEA leaders, labor relations specialists and CSEA Private Sector Specialist Michael Ottaviano continue to press our position for both public and private sector homes.
Ottaviano
“When employers finally admit their for-profit operation has problems and agree with the union request to create wage increases, it is due to two main factors,” Ottaviano said. “One, the union has demonstrated that the extremely low number of staff causing uncovered shifts and the high risk of an unfortunate incidents affecting residents is at a mutual detriment to both CSEA and management. They accept that the high risk in being cited by the state health department, fines, potential lawsuits, and a poor reputation of care overall results in a loss of profit.
Two, the union actively pushing member complaints to an unbearable level for the administration, in which existing workers threaten to leave. CSEA nursing home members certainly have earned more and deserve more.”
Nursing homes across the state are beginning to realize it’s to their benefit to work with our union on this issue. Offering competitive wage and benefit packages, boosting morale and creating an environment that attracts and retains the dedicated, caring staff we already have leads to not only a more stable work environment, but also a better place to live for the elderly residents as cherished members of our communities.
— Jill Asencio
