SAUGUS — Two feet of snow wasn’t going to stop Saugus health-care workers from demanding better treatment on Wednesday.
Employees of Saugus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and members of the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East Union held an informational picket for increased wages for caregivers at Saugus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center from 6-8 a.m. and 2-4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Since September, the union has been bargaining a previously scheduled “wage opener,” seeking higher wages with minimal movement from the Saugus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center owner Ariel Lieberman. 1199SEIU seeks to raise wages to recruit and retain caregivers. Management has responded with proposed wage rates at or near minimum wage for certified nursing assistants, dietary and housekeeping workers.
The union claims that management’s proposal on wage rates is not competitive with those of nearby nursing homes, the industry more broadly or even with available retail and service jobs.
Erinma Ndukew, who has worked at the center for 11 years, hopes that Wednesday’s demonstration will get ownership to give employees the pay that they feel they deserve.
“They are not paying us at all,” she said. “CNAs (certified nursing assistants) are still getting paid $15. Why are people that are working at Dunkin’ Donuts getting more than that? Even the housekeeping, they are getting $10 so it’s very unfair.”
1199SEIU also claims that management at Saugus Rehab is not in compliance with the state’s Direct Care Cost Quotient (DCC-Q) as of the first reporting period, which requires all nursing homes to spend no less than 75 percent of total facility revenue on direct care.
Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU Tim Foley had his boots on the ground at the center and was hoping to help send a message to ownership of the center that they need to pay their workers.
“These are frontline caregivers who have been here every single day during the pandemic trying to do their job — to take care of the residents and do it safely, and to show them a little bit of respect that they deserve,” he said. “This nursing home is well off. We have a nursing home just down the street where workers are making a lot more money because those workers are being given the wages that they deserve.”
Also in attendance throughout the day were state Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) and state Reps. Jessica Ann Giannino (D-Revere) and Peter Capano (D-Lynn).
This is an issue that is close to Capano’s heart, as he is a part of the North Shore Labor Council, the former president of the General Electric (GE) Union, and has been supporting workers his whole life.
“Workers, in general, are not being paid fairly,” he said. “They have been taking concessions from big companies and places like this for years and years. It’s good to see that workers are standing together to try and better their standard of living.”
Capano also added that it’s time for these companies to put their money where their mouth is in regards to supporting frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It sounds good; everybody is glad that frontline workers are coming to work whether you drive a bus or work in a nursing home, you provide health care or you work in retail,” he said. “I mean it sounds good in speech and it sounds good when people are talking about it but to actually do something to show that you do have appreciation for them… all they want is what’s fair and what’s coming to them so they can provide for their families.”
Ndukew had a similar outlook, saying health-care workers don’t deserve the treatment that they have received during the pandemic.
“We don’t deserve this,” she said. “We deserve more than that. We deserve respect. We deserve so many things but here they don’t give us that respect. They don’t give it to us at all. So we are hoping that they will do more than this. They have to do something.”
