UHW nursing home members have bargained another breakthrough contract, this time at Kindred Healthcare. Our new contract covers 900 workers at 10 facilities, and it far surpasses the low standards agreed to by SEIU International for members of Local 6434, where top-down agreements have given away key workers’ rights.

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This is just the latest victory for nursing home workers who are members of UHW. Already this year, we’ve negotiated contracts with management at Mariner Healthcare, Sava, and Horizon West that include industry-leading wages and benefits that shrink the earnings gap between healthcare workers in long-term care and hospitals. We know that we all do the same work, and it’s only fair that we earn the same wages and have the same benefits.

It’s also further evidence that UHW’s member-led approach to organizing and bargaining is carrying the day for healthcare workers. These contracts were negotiated for union members by union members, who were elected by their co-workers to serve on the bargaining teams. And we’ve secured code of conduct agreements with each of those employers that will allow us to organize non-union workers at 43 facilities in an environment free of harassment and coercion. That’s far more than the number of homes made available under the old “alliance” style bargaining that SEIU International leaders endorsed, which required workers to give up their rights in exchange for limited benefits in return.

You can learn more about our victories, and about what UHW is doing to protect our member-centered vision of union democracy, at www.seiuvoice.org.