Nursing Home Workers Assemble Caregivers Caravan to Make Stops at Nursing Homes to Support Workers and Residents as Employers Neglect to Do Their Part to Flatten the Curve
Los Angeles, CA — May 14 — Today, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2015, the nation’s largest long-term care union representing 400,000 nursing home and home care workers throughout California, SEIU Local 2015 members, and nursing home workers across the community came together in honor of National Skilled Nursing Care Week to express disapproval of the nursing home industry’s lack of action to improve working conditions for employees who care for residents most susceptible to COVID-19.
Long before COVID-19 began taking the lives of the most vulnerable, California’s nursing home industry was already in critical condition, with fundamental flaws on display. The day of action included advocates of nursing home workers who assembled a caregivers caravan making multiple stops at nursing homes to demand action from employers to take immediate measures and responsibility in their role to flatten the curve.
Following weeks of urgency for employers to protect workers and residents in nursing homes, the situation has gotten even worse. Union leaders and members have continued to call for change across the nursing home industry pointing to the current conditions facing workers, including the ongoing challenge to secure medical grade Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), lack of consistent and reliable testing, and unsafe staffing levels further destabilized by the crisis.
SEIU Local 2015 is advocating for several immediate measures to support all long term care workers on the frontlines of this pandemic, including:
- Skilled nursing facilities must have a 14-day supply of medical-grade PPE on-hand for staff with ongoing procurement for non-state supply chains;
- Immediate testing of all nursing home workers and patients, and a standardized testing regime statewide going forward;
- Fully-funded, accessible healthcare for every worker, including paid sick leave and 100%-paid testing and treatment for COVID-19;
- Pandemic pay that reflects the essential nature of the work.
Media opportunities with SEIU Local 2015 and its members are available upon request. To view photos from the Day of Action on social media, follow hashtags #EssentialNotSacrificial, #ProtectWorkers, #NSNCW (National Skilled Nursing Home Week), #CaregiversCaravan and see HERE.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, SEIU Local 2015 members and leaders have continued to address the ongoing needs of people working on the frontlines of our healthcare system and have remained committed to calling on the administration to prioritize the nation’s essential long term care workers.