NJ State watchdog worries about patient care as latest nursing home set to close

According to a NJ Spotlight News report, Bergen County’s Health Care Center will soon shut down, forcing patients to find another home. The fourth New Jersey nursing home closure this year, it represents part of a disturbing trend toward privatization of nursing facilities statewide. If public, nonprofit facilities like Bergen are replaced by for-profit chains, both patients and employees will feel the effects. USWU Political Director Connor Shaw, who has been tirelessly advocating for members at the center, explains the seriousness of this descision for these essential workers in the video above.

Jobs 'thrown into chaos': Union leaders oppose plan to close Bergen health center

“Nobody during COVID had more of a front-line battle with the pandemic than the people who were working in a nursing home,” said Connor Shaw, the political director of the United Service Workers Union. “They were just at the front line of a once-in-100-year health crisis, and now their jobs are getting thrown into chaos.”

The future of public nursing homes for both patients and workers in New Jersey is uncertain. After riding out a pandemic on the frontlines, these essential workers now face the possibility of having their facility shut down. USWU is not letting its members go down without a fight. Read more.

New York Must Slam the Door on Wage Theft

Kevin Barry, director of USWU’s construction division, has penned an op-ed recently published in the Gotham Gazette explaining the damage wreaked by wage theft in its various forms and the potential for recourse on the horizon for New York’s workers thanks to important pending legislation.

The construction industry workforce all across this state is keeping New York’s economic engine revving, building new homes, businesses, hospitality and retail venues in communities from Buffalo to the Bronx.

Yet for all their hard work, many are still being ripped off, or getting paid far less than what they were promised, and what they are legally entitled to be compensated. Whether they are being knowingly underpaid by contractors for overtime hours or the contractor who hired them pays their wages but neglects to fund their taxes and benefits, wage theft comes in many forms and yes, it runs rampant. 

It especially hurts those who are most vulnerable, people of color and new immigrants, as well as those who don’t have a union to stand behind and protect them from unscrupulous subcontractors and the general contractors willing to hire them just to cut costs.

Under a new bill (S2766/A3350) currently making its way through the New York State Senate labor committee, aggrieved workers would be able to turn to the general contractor on a job if the subcontractor commits wage theft.

Read the article

Colon Cancer Awareness

In recognition of Colon Cancer Awareness Month, the specialists at Mount Sinai put together a video interview on prevention and screening. The current recommendation for screening is to start at 45 vs 50.

UWF would like to remind our participants that this important preventative service is now COVERED AT AGE 40!

Beginning at age 40, this essential preventative service is covered at 100%, a full decade earlier than those required by law!

Please find link below.

LEARN MORE

New Jersey Project Labor Agreements are not for everyone’s benefit

By Kevin Barry for The Record:

“A piece of legislation is making its way through the New Jersey State Senate that will allow some people to feast while other, hard-working New Jersey union workers are shut out through anti-competitive labor work rules that play favorites. That bill, sponsored by State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, would greatly expand the number of publicly-funded construction projects subject to Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), which restrict, and plays favorites, by picking exactly who has an exclusive on a given public project.”

---

Read Kevin’s op ed, which has also been featured in the Asbury Park Press and the Daily Journal, and in New Jersey Playbook on Politico.

Confusion over who’s next in line for Covid vaccine — USWU members in the news

NBC Nightly News:

With each state controlling how Covid-19 vaccines are given, there’s a patchwork of plans for who can receive the shot next.

USWU Local 455 paratransit worker, Sheila Graham of First Transit Region 5, Newark, NJ, a respected member of the Union, was interviewed for this special report to shed light on an important, under-reported aspect of this crisis and to speak out on the necessity of vaccine access for frontline workers.

USWU continues to raise awareness as we fight to keep our members safe, demand priority vaccine access, and advocate for legislative policies that will support our working families through this public health crisis.

Thanks to Sheila for bringing much-needed awareness to this issue, and to all who go to work every day on the front lines of his pandemic.

Fresh Proof That Strong Unions Help Reduce Income Inequality

From the article by Susan Dynarski, New York Times, July 6, 2018:

"Union workers now earn about 20 percent more than nonunion workers in similar jobs. Remarkably, this union premium has held steady since the 1930s."

"Thanks to the new research [“Unions and Inequality Over the Twentieth Century: New Evidence from Survey Data”], evidence going back nearly a century now shows that unions have formed a critical counterweight to the power of companies. They increase the earnings of the lowest skilled and sharply reduce inequality.

But the Supreme Court’s [Janus] decision will curtail the capacity of unions to organize and represent workers. The court ruled that unions can no longer collect “agency fees” from those government workers whom they represent but who have chosen not to join. These fees have helped pay for contract negotiations as well as prevent the free-rider problem that arises when only some pay for benefits enjoyed by everyone."

Cuomo Comes Up Big for NY Unions

In Response to Janus Decision, Governor Cuomo Signs Executive Order to Protect Union Members from Harassment and Intimidation

Read More Here

President's Letter Regarding Anti-Union Supreme Court Ruling

June 28, 2018

Dear USWU member,

As some of you may have already heard, a recent Supreme Court decision has threatened the pay, pensions, healthcare, job security and livelihoods of public sector workers. This decision ONLY applies to PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS (those who work directly for city, county, state governments). You do not fall into this group; however you should be aware of this case since it affects us all. It weakens unions and hurts the middle class. As such, it is likely that the billionaires that funded the Janus case will look to push their anti-worker agenda into the private sector in the near future. 

The case, called "Janus," was backed by special interest groups seeking to weaken public sector unions by encouraging division among union brothers and sisters. Attempting to "divide and conquer" workers is not a new strategy for the super wealthy. In fact, the infamous industrial era robber baron Jay Gould once famously said, "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half." But we're better than that. USWU members will stand together, united, to protect our rights. 

Let me be clear: these are dangerous times for working people, as we are under attack across our country. The rich have gotten richer. The voice of the American worker is heard less and less in the halls of power, and the working middle class is in danger of becoming a fond memory. 

USWU defends you against being terminated or disciplined unjustly by management. We have full time business agents devoted to your needs, and attorneys who, at no cost to you, spring into action to defend your jobs and contractual rights. Through our collective bargaining agreements, we have the ability to challenge unreasonable management rules. Your employer is required to negotiate with us if they want to make changes to your working conditions, and wages paid to our members are some of the highest for comparable workers. Everything you have is guaranteed in a legally binding agreement. Without the union, nothing is guaranteed. 

History is full of tragic chapters in which people collectively failed to recognize impending danger and act decisively to avert it, until it was too late. That is not going to happen to us. We must act together to overcome any threat to our wages, healthcare, job security and pensions. In the coming months and years, I will ask you to support our union's plan to meet this challenge. I will ask you to stay strong and remain a member of USWU. Your collective bargaining agreement and union representation are precious resources upon which you, your family and your co-workers depend. I have no doubt that you will do what is necessary to protect them.

In Solidarity,

Lori Ames
National President

PDF of LETTER