Testimony of Josephine Ruckinger On behalf of the 1199P Service Employees International Union (SEIU), AFL-CIO before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education in Harrisburg, PA on July 6, 2004
My name is JOSEPHINE RUCKINGER I am a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at the Presbyterian Home of Hollidaysburg, PA and a member of the Service Employees International Union 1199P. I have worked at Presbyterian for seven and a half years, and have worked as a CNA for over 12 years. I am registered Republican and enjoy target practice and a licensed gun owner and other outdoor activities such as canoeing, camping. I care for my grandmother who is 77 years old and lives with me after a stroke. Presbyterian Home provides long-term care for 150 elderly patients.
Thank you for inviting me to testify today.
I work on a unit where I am responsible for nine patients who require direct care in all daily living activities, eating, dressing, bathing and toileting. Many of my patients suffer from dementia and Alzheimer's disease. I work hard and care about my patients, but it is very hard work. Many of my patients can be combative or require lifting and turning, which I often have to do alone .
When management changed at Presbyterian around 2001 the new management starting making changes to our working conditions. Our nursing director of over 20 years got fed-up and quit, because of the new administrator. It was because of new management who didn’t seem to care about us, that caused us to look to join a union.
During our campaign to join the Service Employees International Union 1199P, management required all staff to attend mandatory in-service meetings. These meetings were held in the afternoon and all workers were required to attend, even on our days off or when we were not yet on shift. We have three shifts, so workers had to come in to attend these meeting even if they were not due to report to work until 11 p.m. at night. They made us come to work to hear management’s view about our union. We were not able to ask questions or speak, and the union was not allowed to attend.
At one of these meeting a manager said we should not open our doors to SEIU, because while we were talking to them at our front door, someone could come in our back door and rob us. This was because we were doing home visits of workers, which is the only way we can talk to each other, without management watching. Management told us the union would only take our money in dues and could not to anything for us.
Management also held meeting with personal care residents to scare residents, they told the residents their rents would go up and the union would protect bad workers. The administrator told one of my co-workers she would do anything to keep the “union out” even if it meant the residents harassing staff. On one occasion a resident began to yell at one of my co-workers that he could not afford to continue to live there if his rent went up.
They told us we would never get a first contract, and if we voted for the union we would lose our pension plan and other benefits. They told us we would have to start from scratch and we would never get the things we have now in a first contract.
My co-workers and I did not like what management was saying, but we could not invite the union to attend to give their side of the story.
We were able to finally vote for the union in May 2002, but Presbyterian challenged our ballots and the Nation Labor Relations Board kept the ballots for over a year before we knew the results of our election. We finally found out that we won the election in May 2003. We have not been able to get a first contact, just as management threatened us.
Unfortunately, our licensed practical nurses (LPNs) lost their election 7 to 5, and one of my LPN co-workers was pulled aside by her supervisor. The supervisor told her she should “keep her noise clean” because they knew she supported the union.
I was disciplined and lost three (3) days pay. One of my residents is very combative. I had asked management repeatedly that I needed another worker to help me with this resident. But we all have 9 to 10 residents and we can’t always help each other. I was trying to brush this resident’s teeth and she tried to hit me in the face, when I ducked to avoid being hit, she hit her hand on a closet door and cut the back of her hand. I reported this immediately to my nurse supervisor and we wrote a report. No one blamed me for the resident’s injury at the time because everyone knew this resident was dangerous.
I worked for eight (8) days after the incident, and then all of a sudden I was suspended for three days without pay. When I was called into the administrator’s office, she told me I should have let the resident hit me, because there is no policy against staff abused. I had to write letters to the administrator complaining about being disciplined for something that was not my fault. Because I don’t have a union I had to do this myself. If we had our own union, I would have savedwould have someone to help me protect my rights and ensure my patients received quality care. Because we work alone, we are always at risk of a resident making a complaint against us. We try to care for our residents but, they sometimes do things that are not in their control. We can lose our jobs or pay as a result. Workers don’t feel secure or safe at work in these situations. I was finally reimbursed for two (2) days pay, but it is still in my file and I lost one day of pay.
This has happened before with this resident, and no one has been disciplined. But because I supported the union management used me as an example. After this incident, this resident was put on a two person order, which is what should have happened all along.
I need and want a union, so I can have a safer work place. We need more staff so we don’t have to care for the residents alone.
I pay $108 every two weeks for my health insurance for my husband and myself. I make $9.22 per hour, because I work the evening shift and get a $.35 cents shift differential. Presbyterian does not provide us with uniforms, we have to buy those ourselves.
Thank you for listening to my story. I wish all my co-workers could come here today and tell you their stories. We all have them. We like our jobs and our residents, but we need a union to help us. I also hope that when I go back I will have a job, because I came here today to testify.
