On Workers’ Memorial Day, Striking Spectrum Nursing Home Workers Cite Company’s Abysmal Health and Safety Record

On Workers’ Memorial Day, Striking Spectrum Nursing Home Workers Cite Company’s Abysmal Health and Safety Record

Hartford, CT— Members of District 1199 currently on strike at four Spectrum Healthcare nursing homes joined hundreds of other Connecticut workers at the Capitol Wednesday in observance of Workers Memorial Day. Wednesday’s observance of Workers Memorial Day will be especially solemn this year after the deaths and injuries resulting from the fatal explosion in Middletown in February.

April 28th marks the founding of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1971. From all-too-frequent personal experience, Spectrum caregivers know how critical the work of that federal agency is.

When OSHA issued its annual list of the 15,000 employers nationally with the highest rates of workplace illness and injury on March 10, five of Spectrum’s six facilities made the list. According to OSHA records, Spectrum’s nursing homes, including the four now on strike, have appeared on the list for at least the last five years.

1199 Vice President Almena Thompson said, “It’s true that nursing home work is physically challenging and can be dangerous but OSHA cites only those workplaces where illness and injury rates are more than twice the national average for comparable worksites.”

“Among the larger nursing home chains we negotiate contracts with, Spectrum has the highest percentage of facilities included on OSHA’s DART Rate.” The DART rate—a measurement of workplace injuries severe enough to warrant Days Away from work, job Restrictions and/or job Transfers—is the standard for benchmarking an organization’s safety record.

Thompson said that Spectrum’s abysmal record on worker safety and health parallels their refusal to settle labor contracts with their caregivers, noting that:

Connecticut health care providers operating 33 other skilled nursing facilities have already settled contracts on the same terms as those that 1199 members are seeking from Spectrum.
Spectrum is the only company under investigation by the NLRB for Unfair Labor Practices.
Spectrum is the only nursing home company to experience strikes by members of District 1199.

www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=17238. The list of employers receiving these notifications is at: www.osha.gov/as/opa/foia/hot_16.html.