St. Paul nursing home workers want respect for their essential work, and they're on strike to get it

Cerenity Humboldt nursing assistants Helen Boayle (L), Jennifer Balanay and Janice Dunbar (R), members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, walk the picket line July 20.

On a day when working people in over 25 cities across the U.S. joined a union-backed Strike for Black Lives, nursing home workers at Cerenity Humboldt Care Center in St. Paul staged a 24-hour strike, demanding a contract that reflects their essential work.

Members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota who work at Cerenity Humboldt set up a picket line July 20 after a majority voted to authorize a strike over unfair labor practices.

The health care workers say contract talks with the employer have broken down despite seven meetings between representatives for the two sides over the last six months.

As bargaining has dragged on, the novel coronavirus has spread widely in Minnesota’s long-term-care and assisted-living facilities. Their residents account for more than three-quarters of the state’s COVID-19 deaths, and some 7,500 known cases have been traced back to congregate living facilities.

FULL story: https://advocate.stpaulunions.org/2020/07/20/st-paul-nursing-home-workers-want-respect-for-their-essential-work-and-theyre-on-strike-to-get-it/