The federal minimum staffing proposal appears to be at the center of a union call to action as labor strikes continue in different cities. This, while the nursing home industry anxiously awaits what could be a major upset to facility access amid an ongoing workforce shortage.
The American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), in favor of the mandate, most recently called on nursing home workers to share their stories and testimonials to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Corporations, the organization said, are “doing everything they can” to lobby HHS against releasing the minimum staffing standard. The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), for one, on Tuesday sent a letter directly to President Joe Biden to reconsider the unfunded mandate.
AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Mark Parkinson suggested the Administration refocus efforts on “more meaningful solutions,” including changes to immigration policy to attract international nurses, and implement technology to provide “better care with fewer people.”
More than 500 nursing homes have closed over the course of the pandemic often due to the inability to find workers, Parkinson wrote, and the industry would need to hire 191,000 additional workers to meet a hypothetical 4.1 hours per resident day requirement.
AFL-CIO, on the other hand, said in its call to action that a federal standard for safe staffing provides workers with much-needed and overdue protections and support. The association said the proposal could “significantly improve” the level of care for nursing home residents and families who rely on those services.
Industry leaders know there is a direct connection between low nursing home staffing and higher rates of fall, hospitalizations, missed care and mortality, AFL-CIO noted.
Labor action has already been happening as an answer to unsafe staffing standards.
Strikes were carried out this month in California and Hawaii to demand higher wages and better working conditions as the industry struggles to recruit and retain staff at all levels.
Oahu Care facility in Honolulu, an 82-bed SNF, went on strike just yesterday, beginning a 7-day strike after failed attempts at mediation with management, according to an article published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser.
“We’ve been at the table for a few months now, looking for fair wages, a fair contract, fair working conditions,” Hawaii Nurses Association Labor Relations Specialist Mandy Vega told the Star Advertiser. “People are working double shifts all the time. They’re exhausted. Even after a double shift, they’ll go home for a few hours and then get called back in.”
The facility’s CNAs are paid $14.95 per hour and RNs receive $33 per hour, while most operators in Hawaii are paying $25 to $45 per hour for the same positions.
Other union nursing home workers with 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East narrowly avoided a strike on Monday, WIVB 4 reported; SNF staff were without a contract since April 30.
SNF operator Aurora Park and Allegany Absolut Care, which operates facilities in New York, ratified a new two-year deal with the labor union. Absolut had proposed cuts to paid time off and health insurance benefits for newly hired workers, setting off an informational picket between April and July.
Comprehensive Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Williamsville, NY held a one-day strike, and voted to hold an indefinite strike set to begin last week, but they’ve agreed to a new deal as well, reports said.
Clinicians, dietary cooks, housekeeping aides, laundry aides and dietary aides were dealing with insufficient staffing levels and unsafe working conditions ever since Comprehensive bought the 142-bed building in 2015, WIVB reported.
Earlier in the month, Los Angeles County nursing homes kicked off a series of protests as understaffing and turnover increasingly undermine patient care, according to a report from the Los Angeles Daily News.
Employees involved in the protests belong to SEIU Local 2015 work for facilities owned by Brius Healthcare and operated by Rockport Healthcare Services. “Alarming” turnover rates at these facilities has worsened during the pandemic as underpaid and under-protected workers are burnt out, the report said.
Brius owned Shlomo Rechnitz was named in an August 2021 lawsuit alleging he and several other individuals and entities were responsible for pandemic-related deaths; Another March 2020 lawsuit involving Brius alleged an employee was wrongfully terminated for refusing to participate in “patient dumping.”
The phrase refers to a facility transferring or denying patient care because of the patient’s inability to pay for services. In this case, Brius was allegedly switching out Medi-Cal patients for Medicare beneficiaries – which get higher reimbursement.
SEIU Local 2015 represents about 4,000 workers at 28 SNFs, including 16 in LA County.
