Workers pray for end to lockout at West River
Last Updated on Monday, 30 January 2012 12:51
Written by Jill K. Dion
Monday, 30 January 2012 10:44
Ten-year-old David Alexis of Stratford held a candle on the Milford green during a prayer service Sunday for workers locked out of their jobs at West River Health Care Center.
His mother works there, and since she’s been locked out, it’s been tough at home because his parents can’t pay the bills.
“And my dad has to be at work all the time now, so we don’t see him,” David said.
It’s a bit scary for a child, added David’s brother, Christopher, 6.
The two boys joined a crowd of about 100 Sunday evening around the gazebo on the green. Union leaders, employees, friends and city and state officials joined the gathering, all talking about the need for the lockout to end.
The union workers — certified nursing assistants, kitchen staff, housekeepers and others — were told Dec. 13 that they could not return to work because the union and company owner, HealthBridge, had failed to reach a contract agreement.
The two sides have been unable to come to terms on health benefits and pensions — HealthBridge wants employees to start paying for health care, where they haven’t before. For most of the hourly workers, the added costs are too great.
The theme Sunday evening on the green, as candles flickered, was one of saving the middle class.
“This is not a Milford issue; it’s a national issue,” said Rich Smith, Democratic Town Committee Chairman. “People used to believe that the middle class could work hard and make enough to pay for a home and education. This is the front line of that battle, and we need to stand together and save the middle class.”
His brother, Alderman Frank Smith, also attended and said he was there to show solidarity with the union.
“This is a national issue, made local,” Frank Smith said, pointing out that tactics HealthBridge is employing are union-busting moves. He credited unions for helping to secure a comfortable living for the middle class, and said the decline of unions goes hand in hand with a diminishing middle class.
Union leaders spoke Sunday about the need for people to come together to support the locked-out workers. Locked-out employees mingled and talked among themselves about the difficulty paying household bills on unemployment, which is less than the paychecks they were bringing home. Some held signs, asking people to pray for an end to the lockout.
“This is the first time I’ve been on employment in my life,” said Noreen Gates, who has worked at West River Health Care since 1992. She, like many of the others, are angry about the way HealthBridge treated them, and they’re angry to be separated from patients they say have grown accustomed to their care.
State Sen. Gayle Slossberg (D-14) took to the podium to speak to and for the union workers. She told them she will continue to stand by them until the lockout ends.
“I’m here to support the workers who are locked out and the residents of the health care facility cut off from the people who took care of them for so long,” Slossberg said. “This lockout is not fair and it doesn’t make sense.”
Read more about the vigil in this week's Milford Mirror
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