Partners in Slime
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Though little-publicized, the “alliance” (as the SEIU and the nursing home industry call it) has been long in coming. In fact, lobbying pacts between the SEIU and the nursing home industry had previously been struck in Florida and Texas, AARP’s de la Cruz says. “We were approached by the industry a year and a half ago. They told us what they were doing in Florida, and they had every intention of doing it here,” de la Cruz says. Over the past two years, various corporate nursing home chains and the SEIU, which has thousands of members who work in nursing homes, decided to lay down their arms and pursue their mutual goals of more money for the nursing home industry and for union employees. Nursing home operators had previously spent thousands of dollars on union busting, hoping to keep worker pay low. Meanwhile, union members worked hand in hand with the industry’s bitterest enemies, including advocates for the elderly, who were seeking to reduce the unwarranted death, injury, and psychological trauma that have been grist for dozens of media investigations of substandard nursing home practices. More : sfweekly.com |