Coon Rapids nursing home workers organize with AFSCME

Having watched these types of workers helping my mom for the last 8 months before she died, they deserve it.

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_5302

1 August 2012

COON RAPIDS - About 70 workers at Park River Estates Care Center in Coon Rapids are the newest members of AFSCME Council 5 after winning a union election in June.

“For me, resident care is first and foremost,” said Evan Stacy, a certified nursing assistant who was part of the organizing committee. The best way to improve care, he said, is to give workers a bigger voice in how their workplace runs.

Inconsistent staffing ratios and a nursing home policy that ends up punishing workers for taking off sick are just two instances that directly impact residents’ health, Stacy said.

The workers — LPNs, CNAs, and trained medication aides — also are looking for fairer treatment and better pay. Like many nursing home polices, there is no rhyme or reason to pay scales, Stacy reported. Some workers have gone years without a raise.

FULL story at link.