Nursing home union sets new strike deadline

Connecticut’s largest health care employee union issued a new threat Thursday, setting a deadline of June 3 for more than 2,500 nursing home workers to strike if additional funding for pay raises isn’t added to the state budget.

The union, New England Health Care Employees, District 1199 SEIU, has asked for a 4 percent increase in wages for all nursing home caregivers industrywide — including non-bargaining workers — in each of the next two fiscal years. This would cost $40 million annually, labor officials said. About half of that would be borne by the state and half would be covered by federal Medicaid payments to Connecticut.

The labor group had previously set a deadline of May 1 to walk off the job, but abandoned that plan after it received an “encouraging” letter from Gov. Ned Lamont two weeks ago asking for time to negotiate.

Lamont’s budget proposal did not include any additional funding for nursing homes workers, and District 1199 leaders said Thursday that “the General Assembly has not responded accordingly to our union’s demands.”

The 2,500 or so workers who voted in favor of a strike are spread across 20 facilities. Five additional nursing homes with more than 600 employees may join them when the voting process is complete, officials said.

District 1199 represents 26,000 health care workers in Connecticut, including 7,000 nursing home employees.

“This is a last resort for workers who care dearly about the residents and patients they serve every day,” said Rob Baril, the union president. “Some of our members are making as little as $10.93 per hour, or just 83 cents above the bare minimum wage. This is totally unacceptable in a wealthy state like Connecticut.”

The Connecticut Department of Social Services is required to reassess nursing home costs at least once every four years, and to provide inflationary increases to homes in the years when a formal reassessment isn’t done. The industry did receive a 2 percent increase in state funding this fiscal year and a 3 percent increase in 2015-16.

But governors and legislatures often skip this inflationary adjustment in tough economic times. Lamont has proposed waiving it next year and in 2021. Nursing homes would lose out on $28.8 million next year and $61.2 million in 2021 if lawmakers agree to waive it.