Union and non-union nursing home workers rallied outside Monarch’s offices as representatives sought a meeting with executives inside.
As Minnesota nursing homes continue to draw scrutiny for low wages, high turnover and staffing shortfalls, members of the state’s largest health care union are calling on one of the state’s largest nursing home companies to join them in working toward a solution.
SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, which represents over 50,000 health care workers, staged an hourlong rally Sept. 27 outside Monarch Healthcare Management’s corporate offices in Eagan, bringing together over 100 union and non-union nursing home workers and community supporters.
Two workers entered Monarch’s offices and briefly met with an executive to relay the group’s demands.
“We told him that we are fed up with working short every day, day in and day out, in these nursing homes,” Isaac Sant said. “It’s not safe for us as workers; it’s not safe for our residents. Things have got to change.”
Conditions are poised to change in the state’s nursing home industry, thanks to the work of a new Workforce Standards Board, authorized by DFL legislative majorities last year.
The board recently took the first steps toward setting a $20.50 minimum wage in all nursing homes, with higher rates for positions like LPNs and CNAs. The board also voted to require that nursing home workers receive time-and-a-half pay on all 11 state holidays.
But employer representatives on the board did not support the higher standards. And as the state’s rulemaking process grinds on, conditions inside nursing homes remain challenging for both staff and residents, workers at the rally said.
Bolanle Adedeji, who is training to work at a Monarch facility, said short staffing often prevents nursing home workers from offering the personalized care they want to give.
“At times, they want to share their minds, they want to talk with you, they want to relate to you,” she said. “But because of time constraints, you cannot let them. Some of them are weeping, some of them are crying that we are not there for them. So this short staffing has to stop now.”
One way to bring change, workers at the rally said, is by organizing a union. But SEIU representatives said Monarch is notorious for “anti-union activities” in its non-union facilities where workers show an interest in bargaining for better wages, benefits and staffing.
“The boss has the message that we’re here, and enough is enough with the short staffing, low pay and poor working conditions,” said Isaac Ngafua, who works at an assisted living facility in Brooklyn Center.
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor
Union Advocate 