Adventist Nursing Home, union negotiate over contract - The Business Review (Albany):

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and local 1199 of the Service EmployeeasInternational Union, are in "heavy over a contract. The which threatened a strikein mid-November, wants a contractt by Dec. 18. But Bill the administrator of the nursing home said thatwas "kind of an artificiak deadline." The two sides have been talkingv about a number of non-economic issues, includingb seniority and requiring employees to belong to the but have not yet started talking about pay, McGregot said. Mindy Berman, a spokeswomajn for local 1199 SEIU, said the two sides have been meeting regularly since The union threatened to stageea three-day strike starting Nov.
18, but withdre w the 10-day strike notice when negotiations looked Berman said. "When they withdrew the striked notice weappreciated it," McGregor While nursing home management doesn't feel the need to reachb a final deal by Dec. 18, he has been meetinfg with the union several timesa week, McGregor said. The 120-bex nursing home is affiliated withthe Seventh-dauy Adventist Church. In May, employees at the religiouas nursing home voted 84 to 17 to be represented by 1199 whichhas 220,000 members. Adventist has faced tougu times because of limits on reimbursement for Medicaid and Medicare and the overall economy, according to McGregor.
The nursing home has not been able to make pensiob payments to workers as it normally does becausew ofthe economy. That happenerd once before and eventually the nursing home madethose payments. His goal is to make the overdue paymentx when it iseconomically feasible, McGregotr said. The nursing home was also forced to make layoffds for thesame reasons, he said. Adventist nursinhg home employs 150 people at its Routw9 facility. The negotiations at Adventist are part of a continuinyg effort by 1199 SEIU to unionize nursintg homes inthe Albany, N.Y.
region, Berman