Ruby Weston Manor, a 240-bed nursing home the heart of East New York, Brooklyn, reaps a considerable amount of profit due to the hard work of its loyal and dedicated 1199SEIU caregivers. The workers of Ruby Weston voted to join 1199SEIU in 1998 but have never obtained their “first contract.”
The owner, Ms. Ruby Weston, has refused to negotiate with the union in good faith and workers have been fighting for a contract for nine years. Yet the home’s 200 workers continue to provide quality care to nursing home residents although they work under short-staffed and unsafe conditions. Without a signed contract, the workers receive inferior wages and benefits and are subject to harassment and intimidation by management without proper recourse.
Ruby Weston workers earn $3-4 an hour less than their 1199SEIU sisters and brothers in the nursing home industry. Now they are seeking parity, including family healthcare coverage under the Union’s benefit fund. Currently, they are covered only for themselves and one child. They must pay a premium of over $100 every two weeks for each spouse and additional children every two weeks.
On November 14, over 200 members held an informational picket to inform the nursing home residents, residents’ families and the community of these abuses. A strike deadline has been set for Tuesday, November 27.
1199SEIU represents CNAs, LPNs, dietary, maintenance, housekeeping and rehabilitation workers at Ruby Weston.
Colombia's unionists operate in a climate of fear in their country. In 2007 alone, 40 Colombian trade unionists were murdered.
