June 20, 2014
Photo Credit: LaborPress.org
More than 1,000 Local 1199 SEIU members picketed outside Mount Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side June 18, protesting a contract-talks proposal by the city’s nonprofit hospitals and nursing homes to make “radical changes” in workers’ health benefits.
The crowd, mostly women and many wearing blue hospital scrubs, packed a block of Madison Avenue at East 100th Street, waving purple union pennants, chanting loudly, and cheering when passing truckers, car-service cabbies, and Access-A-Ride paratransit drivers honked in support. Local 1199 members also did “informational picketing” outside numerous other hospitals in the city and suburbs.“They want to completely restructure our benefits,” said registered nurse Elaine Iorio. “We’ll go from paying nothing to paying a monthly premium and copays. And no raise.”
