Nursing Assistant Resources On The Web

A while ago here we ran a story about a nursing home that had been bought out by another company which promptly told all the staff they would have to re-apply for jobs. The staff affected belonged to a union. Here is an update:

STAMFORD - Nearly 30 Tandet Center union workers, backed by city and state officials and religious leaders, demanded contract assurances from the buyer of the nursing home at a news conference yesterday.

Stamford Health System’s long-sought $5.4 million sale of the Tandet Center to the newly formed Mill River Foundation Inc., based in Georgia, is expected to close by the end of the summer.

The nursing home employees, who are working under a temporary contract until the deal closes, said they face deteriorating working conditions, cuts in health insurance and pensions, and possible loss of jobs.

“We just need assurances,” said Merlene Reynolds, a nursing assistant at Tandet Center for 13 years. “Give us something.”
[...]
Mill River plans to contract with a for-profit HP sister company, AltaCare Corp., to manage daily operations, such as payroll, billing, collections and human resources.

The company is holding a job fair today at the Holiday Inn, which nursing home workers said is open to the public and advertising positions held by union members.

Douglas Mittleider, chief executive officer, chief financial officer and secretary for HP Acquisitions Group and AltaCare, said the job fair is for Tandet Center employees, but outside applications will be accepted.

“We’re looking for qualified people,” he said. “We are not advertising to the public.”

All 180 employees of the 130-bed William and Sally Tandet Center for Continuing Care must reapply for their jobs. Those who pass the drug testing and criminal background checks will be offered jobs with Mill River at their existing pay rates and will retain their seniority, Mittleider said. Employees will continue to be offered health benefits, paid time off and a retirement savings plan, he said.

Although the temporary contract will not be honored, Mittleider said he will work with the union if representation is in place when the employees have been determined.

I wouldn’t trust this at all. The company is going to outsource it’s entire staffing operation, which means an outside group will actually hire and maintain records for, pay, insure and all other human resource related issues…the nursing home itself will not have any say in these areas. Of course they will have a say in the employee’s work ethics and standards and performance. As for the union: Don’t trust these words this man is saying. This is the new way of things. Outsourcing the jobs to small time hiring groups who have no vested interest in unions and who don’t hire people in one industry. Since the nursing home staff don’t actually work for the nursing home, they won’t be able to collectively bargain anymore. They won’t be able to convince non nursing employees, such as a factory worker on the other end of town, to join a nursing union and vice versa. Very clever thing happening here. I predict this to go nationwide very soon too. Unions lose out. We lose out because we allowed unions to demand too much and look where it gets us all…no where.