Who is 1199SEIU?
1199 represents the conscience of the labor movement.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Affordable, quality health care for all.
The 300,000 caregivers of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East are driven by a mission to achieve affordable, quality care for all. In Massachusetts, 1199 members put that belief into action by volunteering their time to help pass the recent health care expansion legislation. Now, 1199 is closely involved in the legislation’s implementation to ensure there are affordable plans for poor and working families.
A history of constant innovation.
While some unions have struggled to adapt to a changing economy, the frontline health care workers of 1199 are more relevant than ever as vital, pragmatic advocates for patients, caregivers and working families. Our track record of partnering with forward-thinking employers to achieve shared goals and solve the problems brought on by the health care crisis reflects this union-wide spirit of innovation.
Working pragmatically toward solutions.
1199 members have developed a highly effective approach to problem solving, which involves working with employers to increase resources and improve efficiency, jobs and quality of care. In the most successful example of labor-management partnership in the country, 1199 members have:
- Worked with the Greater New York Hospital Association to create the Healthcare Education Project, which informs and mobilizes voters on health care issues. The Healthcare Education Project has stopped cuts to health care facilities, achieved millions in new funding for patient care and passed innovative legislation such as the Family Health Plus program that covers over one million previously uninsured children and adults.
- Worked with the League of Voluntary Hospitals to create the largest and most successful health care training fund in the country, which offers educational opportunities to more than 30,000 workers a year. 1199 members and the League have also created a Labor Management Partnership that has had quantitatively measurable benefits for clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and hospital efficiency.
The partnership model is taking hold in Massachusetts as well, and 1199 has formed a joint labor-management training fund with Boston Medical Center, Cape Cod Healthcare, Radius Inc., and Lynn Community Health Center.
Uniting all health care workers.
1199 was founded by New York pharmacists in the 1930s. That small group soon realized that they could only have an effective voice in the health care industry if their union embraced all health care workers. Today, 1199SEIU is the largest and fastest growing local health care union in the United States, representing almost every job classification in hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient facilities and the homecare industry. 1199 members include registered nurses, nursing assistants, x-ray techs, respiratory therapists, dietary workers, research techs and many others.
In 2005, the members of SEIU Local 2020 voted overwhelmingly to unite with the members of 1199SEIU so that they could have the resources to most effectively advocate for patients and caregivers in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts chapter of 1199SEIU has 12,000 members in 82 facilities across the state and is rapidly growing. Other local unions have also voted to join with 1199SEIU, which now has members throughout New York State, Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Healthcare groups push for federal bailout funds
Kay Lazar - Friday, January 2, 2009
With leafleting, lobbying, and letter-writing blitz, healthcare groups are urging Governor Deval Patrick to use expected federal bailout money to shore up the health programs slashed this fall because of the state’s budget crisis.
A coalition of three dozen social service, healthcare, labor, and legal groups - dubbed Put Patients First - is mailing 100,000 Boston area voters a flier about the specific effect of recent cuts to Boston Medical Center and Cambridge Health Alliance. The two institutions serve a large share of the region’s low income residents and, hospital officials say, are suffering from disproportionate state budget cuts.
Click here to read the full article. (PDF)
Personal Care Attendants win higher wages and benefits with 1199SEIU
On November 25, PCAs voted to ratify their first contract for higher wages and benefits. PCAs, consumers, community supporters and allies, and elected officials welcomed the announcement at the Veronica B. Smith Senior Center in Brighton. Read the full coverage of this historic event below (PDFs).
Boston Globe - Home care workers vote union-negotiated pact
Boston Globe - SEIU wins pact for 25,000 home care workers
Boston Herald - Care workers get 15% raise
Worcester T&G - Attendants OK their first contract
Cape Cod Times - Union contract boosts health aides
New Bedford Standard Times - Union helps struggling PCAs
New Bedford Standard Times - Help for the Helpers
Patriot Ledger - Thousands of personal care attendants to get raises and health insurance under new contract
Bureau of National Affairs - 1199SEIU negotiates first contract for 25,000 Massachusetts home aides
Working for youths
Adrian Walker - Friday, August 15, 2008
Labor unions may be a lot of things, but they definitely are not normally social service agencies. SEIU Local 1199 is poised to become an exception to that.
Click here to read the full article from The Boston Globe…
Efforts to focus on their peers James Vaznis - Monday, August 18, 2008 City youths armed with digital cameras and audio recorders will capture images and words and use them to try to persuade their peers to shun violence, under a new city program announced yesterday. The youths will work on developing this new media campaign this fall and winter with city workers and members of SEIU Local 1199 United Healthcare Workers East, many of whom work at Boston Medical Center, treating victims of violence. Click here to download a pdf of the full article from The Boston Globe. Union backs mayor’s anti-violence planYouth media campaign targets city violence
Tony Lee - Monday, August 18, 2008 Area youth will lead an anti-violence campaign tied to Mayor Thomas Menino’s Violence Intervention Prevention (VIP) initiative, thanks in large part to a landmark donation from area health care workers. The $200,000 pledge from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East members at Boston Medical Center will help the kids build a media campaign designed to promote nonviolence. The campaign will incorporate art, poetry and music to build safe problem-solving methods. Click here to read the full article from the Boston Metro.
