Posts tagged Medicaid
SEIU celebrates $16 home care worker minimum wage, readies to lobby for $20
June 5, 2024 // The union in recent years has pushed to increase pay rates for the workforce whose average wage had hovered around $11 for nearly a decade. Last year, Nevada state lawmakers passed a bill establishing a $16 an hour minimum wage for home care workers. “Sixteen is great,” said Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy, a former SEIU organizer who spoke at the event Thursday. “It shows the power of collective mobilization. But I think that we are going to do a little bit better next legislative session.” An increase to $20 per hour for home care workers would be possible by adjusting the Medicaid reimbursement rate for the employers who provide home care services to $30 per hour.
Opinion | California’s $25-an-Hour Minimum-Wage Boomerang
May 30, 2024 // The state’s budget deficit has ballooned to $45 billion. Mr. Newsom projects that the new healthcare minimum wage would cost the state $4 billion more a year owing to higher Medicaid costs and compensation for workers at state-owned facilities. Legislative analyses warned about these costs, but Mr. Newsom signed the law anyway. Thus the minimum wage for healthcare workers is set to rise to between $18 and $23 an hour this Saturday, depending on the type and size of healthcare provider. California’s current minimum wage for all workers is $16 an hour. Nearly all workers at healthcare facilities including janitors will have to be paid at least $25 an hour by 2028. Democrats shrugged when healthcare providers warned that the wage mandate could force cuts to patient services. Who cares if Californians wait longer before being seen at the ER? But now Democrats worry that the state’s higher health costs could force bigger government spending cuts. Oh no. Californians may have to wait even longer for their bullet train to nowhere.
Home Care Unionization Efforts Beginning To Tick Back Up
March 29, 2024 // Another issue that URMHC workers cited was working hours, which could – in theory – be fixed by providers. One of the biggest reasons for turnover in home-based care is volatile scheduling. “I think that’s a problem we’re going to have to solve,” FirstLight Home Care CEO Glee McAnanly told Home Health Care News earlier this year. “Because if you talk to caregivers, they say they want 30 hours. The average client is 20 hours, and so you’ve got a disconnected 10 hours. So, we talk about retention, but how are we going to [satisfy] that caregiver?”
HOUSE DEMOCRATS ADVANCE SEIU BILL IN OREGON KNOWING IT WOULD STRIP CAREGIVERS OF THEIR RIGHTS
February 29, 2024 // Specifically, Oregon’s HB 4129 would require the state to contract with up to two private vendors to administer part of the state’s Medicaid-funded homecare program. By doing so, it would create a new employment model governed by private-sector labor law, under which caregivers would lose their protections under the Harris ruling. SEIU 503 is the union purporting to represent Medicaid-compensated homecare workers in Oregon, and it’s has taken a big hit since Harris.
Loretto Hospital Workers Go On Strike in Austin, Calling For Increased Wages and Staffing
August 2, 2023 // Union representatives also said Loretto Hospital lags behind other hospitals on wages, despite the state allocating $10 million in funding to address worker recruitment and retention. Ahead of the strike Monday morning, a hospital spokesperson said that if the union were to go through with a work stoppage, it would be solely because it wants “impractical” first-year wage increases. “The SEIU’s demands far exceed the hospital’s current economic reality and eliminates our ability to provide wage equity for all hospital employees, including union and non-union,” said a Loretto Hospital spokesperson in a statement, adding that non-union employees have not received salary increases in three years and voluntarily took a 10% pay cut to prevent the layoff of their team members.
Union to strike at group homes serving 1,500 disabled clients
May 17, 2023 // The jobs involved include direct support and direct care staff, dietary workers, maintenance staff, program aides, job coaches, assistant managers, assistant program coordinators, residential day program workers, assistant teachers, behavior paraprofessionals and some licensed practical nurses. Baril and other union leaders have noted on several occasions that many 1199 members lost their lives, became ill or brought infections home to their families during the early stages of the coronavirus in 2020 and 2021 — all while caring for Connecticut’s elderly and disabled in nursing homes, group homes and through at-home care services.
Hospitals to Cancel Elective Procedures, Discharge ASAP as Nurse Strike Looms: Sources
January 6, 2023 // In a statement Monday, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai said that their bargaining teams "continue to make good-faith efforts to pursue a contract with NYSNA that is fair to our community and responsible with respect to the long-term financial health of our organization. Mount Sinai nurses deserve the best possible working environment, wages, and benefits, and we're tirelessly pursing these to all our employees' advantage." The statement added that the hospital system is "prepared for staffing changes, and we will do our best to ensure our patients' care is not disrupted and will do everything possible to minimize inconvenience to patients." The average salary for nurses in New York is $93,000, and $98,000 in NYC, nurses union and the GNYHA confirmed. However, there is a big disparity between nurse pay in private vs public hospitals, where salaries are almost $20,000 less.
Workers at 14 nursing homes in Pennsylvania go on strike
September 3, 2022 // Workers from 14 nursing homes in Pennsylvania went on strike Friday after marathon contract negotiations failed to produce a deal. About 700 unionized workers walked off the job in a dispute over pay, benefits and staffing levels. Photos and video on social media showed picket lines going up outside many of the homes, with workers carrying signs and wearing the purple T-shirts of their union, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania.
We’ve Beaten Down the Union ‘Dues Skim’ in Michigan Again and Again
August 11, 2022 // A few months later, Robert Haynes — a retired Detroit police officer — reached out to tell us that he and his wife Patricia were ensnarled in a similar scheme. Bob and Pat receive monthly Medicaid checks to take care of their two adult children. This dues skim resulted in an estimated 80,000 day care and home caregivers being forcibly unionized, with $35 million taken from their paychecks and given to unions. Harris v. Quinn, Bob and Pat Haynes,
Opinion: States should protect caregivers’ Medicaid funds from union skims
June 27, 2022 // Yet, while a number of states including Michigan have taken action to prohibit the dues skim, a May rule by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reversed a Trump administration effort to stop the skim nationally. A separate 9th Circuit decision last week also continues to allow unions to trap home care providers into paying them. Robert and Patricia Haynes, cerebral palsy, Gov. Rick Snyder, Harris v. Quinn, Cindy Ochoa, most pro-union president ever,