10,000 nursing home workers vote to strike in Illinois in the face of life-threatening working condi

[Newest Reality]

10,000 nursing home workers vote to strike in Illinois in the face of life-threatening working conditions

On Monday, 10,000 workers at 40 Illinois nursing homes, the majority in the Chicago area, voted to strike May 8, one week after the current collective bargaining agreement with the nursing home companies and the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois-Indiana (SEIU HCII) union officially ends.

The workers are demanding personal protective equipment (PPE), safety protocols, hazard pay, an increase in base pay, paid time off for COVID-related illness, increased staffing, health insurance and transparency about COVID-19 cases in the nursing homes, where in Illinois 35 percent of the states’ nearly 2,000 deaths have occurred.

Nursing home workers, nurses and nursing assistants risk their lives each day while working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have been fired for requesting adequate PPE in facilities with confirmed cases. In a livestreamed video on the SEIU Healthcare IL & IN Facebook page, one worker recounted that she was fired for demanding PPE, more staff, and transparent communication from the Alden Wentworth nursing home in Chicago, part of the Chicago-area Alden Network of for-profit long-term care facilities where patients and workers have died from COVID-19.

“How hard is it for the governor to get us a proper mask? Can you imagine telling a child that her mother is dead from something that was completely preventable?” she asked.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/29/seiu-a29.html

[hedda_foil]

1. Good for them! That's what nursing home staff should have.

[bluestarone]

2. Fully support them

[Freethinker65]

3. Trump won't send a Illinois PPE. He made Illinois bid for supplies on open market.