Nursing home workers unite and win mid-contract wage increases

NUHW members at Cottonwood Health Care, Woodland Nursing and Rehabilitation, and University Post-Acute Rehab have proven that there is strength in numbers. 

Six weeks after a supermajority of workers at these facilities signed and delivered identical petitions to their respective administrators calling for fair wages and benefits, those at Cottonwood and University won mid-contract wage increases that correct a long-standing issue: members with higher seniority and experience making less than new hires.

“They (the employer) started bringing in new people and they would start making more money than people who had been at the facility for many years,” said Mariella Cardenas, a CNA who has worked at Cottonwood for two years. 

When they raised objections, the employer erroneously claimed the union contract did not allow them to raise their wages. 

So the workers planned an action to be heard and for the employer to agree to their demands. 

At all facilities, members signed petitions and presented them to administrators at labor–management meetings, each time packing the room and raising their demands. Workers explained how those with 20-plus years of service earned less than new hires and how unfair it was for them to earn so little while giving their all to a profitable company. After seeing the unity and strength of the workers, the administrators relented and agreed to implement the wage increases to address members’ concerns. 

At University, senior employees earning less than counterparts with less seniority will get wage increases ranging from $0.25 an hour to $1.50 an hour that will go into effect February 1.

Cottonwood workers in similar situations will also see wage bumps, though they have not been specified yet. 

The administrator at Woodland has yet to respond to workers’ demands, but workers will keep the pressure on to achieve the same results. 

The workers took inspiration for this action from fellow nursing home workers at Novato Healthcare Center. 

“Workers are happy because, even though not everybody got a raise, they saw that it was possible to get something,” Cardenas said. “Individually, we couldn’t get things done. But collectively, we can move mountains.”