Newman, CA—Nursing Home workers employed at San Luis Care Center in Newman, California, voted today in an overwhelming majority to form their union with SEIU Local 2015, the nation’s largest long-term care workers Union. Employees at San Luis Care Center came together across multiple sectors of the facility to demand their Union. Fifty full-time, part-time, and on-call Certified Nursing Assistants (RNAs), transportation employees, activities employees, laundry employees, dietary aides, and cooks will have a Union for the first time.
“This unionization effort is a tribute to the workers at San Luis Care Center who worked together to demand change at their facility,” said Arnulfo De La Cruz, President of SEIU 2015. “Like so many of our state’s nursing homes, this facility has high staff turnover and unsafe staffing levels. No matter where these folks were working within the facility, they saw the need to make these better jobs to attract the needed staff. These workers will now be able to have a true say at the workplace.”
With a recurring theme of better wages, increased staffing, and respect on the job, the workers at San Luis Care Center are excited for this new beginning at their facility.
“As loyal employees, this victory means we will finally get the respect and dignity we have been striving for, for years. Our residents will now get everything they deserve and pay for, too,” said Lisa Beard, a CNA at the facility for five years and a member of the Union organizing committee. “The most important thing is we finally became a team to make things better for our residents and to attract and retain staff.”
Workers at San Luis Care Center will now be empowered to use their voices on the job and bring change to their workplace. With the election completed, they will next move to form a bargaining team and negotiate their first Union contract as SEIU 2015 members.