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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 21, 2007
CONTACT:
Melanie Myers
(510) 541-2558

RETIREMENT HOME CAREGIVERS LAUNCH TWO-DAY STRIKE

Workers' Healthcare Proposal Would Protect Resident Care

OAKLAND – Caregivers at two retirement communities in Oakland have launched a 48-hour strike in order to maintain their health benefits and ensure that residents at Piedmont Gardens and Grand Lake Gardens are cared for by a stable and professional workforce.

The roughly 140 caregivers at the two facilities are striking to maintain their employer-paid health coverage, which protects the retirement communities from facing severe turnover. Keeping decent health benefits for workers at Piedmont and Grand Lake Gardens means caregivers are less likely to leave, which benefits the residents who rely on their support.

"The bottom line is that residents will suffer if management here is able to take away our health care," said Terry Bobo, who works at Grand Lake Gardens."A quality health benefit is what keeps a stable set of well-trained employees. Nobody wins when good workers are driven away by inadequate benefits."

The two Oakland retirement homes are owned and operated by American Baptist Homes of the West, a nonprofit chain of 30 retirement communities and affordable housing complexes in Arizona, California, Nevada and Washington. The chain has annual revenues of more than $130 million.

Caregivers at Piedmont and Grand Lake Gardens have been bargaining for a new contract since February, but negotiations are at a stand-still over the employer's demand that workers pay 20 percent of the cost of health coverage. The takeaway would cost workers more than $1,000 a year-a significant burden for workers earning an average of less than $27,000.

"We take this decision to go on strike very seriously, because we care very much about our residents," said Bobo. "But we feel that management at the facilities has left us no choice with their unwillingness to consider other options. We're standing up for what's right, because ensuring quality health benefits guarantees the best care for our residents."

The strike began at 5 a.m. Monday and will last 48 hours. Monday rallies will occur at 10am and 6pm.

 

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SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, with more than 140,000 members, is the largest and most powerful healthcare union in the Western U.S. We represent every type of healthcare worker, including nursing, professional, technical and service classifications. Our mission is to achieve high quality healthcare for all.