State officials say the Belknap County Nursing home in Laconia is no longer in danger of losing its federal funding.
The state has accepted a preliminary plan to correct safety problems discovered after a resident was hospitalized with a serious bowel condition.
State authorities gave the facility until September to fully implement the plan.
Meanwhile, some 300 workers at the Hillsborough County Nursing Home are struggling with problems of their own.
At a time when the cost of living has been increasing over 4 percent a year, health care workers at the facility have gone four years without any kind of pay raise.
As NHPR Correspondent Debra Daigle reports, their union and the county have been unable to agree on a new contract.
Begin with soundbite:
“They’re going to balance this budget for the county on the backs of the elderly and the people who care for them.†:06
Track 1 (Daigle) Strong words from Alva Arellano, Organizing Director for Council 93 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
She says the 300 nursing assistants and others at the Hillsborough County Nursing Home have been without a contract for more than three years.
And that means, for all those years, their salaries have not been keeping up with inflation.
“This is affecting the clients at the nursing home, and the care that they get. We have a huge issue with staffing…an LNA (licensed nursing assistant) having to deal with 23 beds at night, and having to answer the call, and this administration not being concerned with that at all.†:14
Track 2: But the administration has a different story.
Negotiator for the County, Attorney Tom Flygare, contends his clients have bargained in good faith…but he says the Union will not budge from its demands.
Flygare says the county has made two counter-offers since the Union’s initial proposal back on April 14th.
In fact he says, the second offer was made on the eve of the day the County had to submit its budget to the state:
“On May 9th, the County made a complete new counterproposal, where we laid out a complete wage package; we withdrew a number of proposals that the union found objectionable, and made a completely new proposal for them. They rejected it, and made no new proposal to us.â€
Track 3: So…how far apart are the two sides? Pretty far, says Chief Union Negotiator Steve Lyons.
The Union wants roughly a 17% raise, retroactive to 2004 - including the traditional “step†increases in addition to cost-of-living hikes.
He says the County hasn’t even come close to that:
“Part of the proposal is going to be the step increases; that is what we want to maintain. But the cost of living…we are at differences. Currently, they’re offering zero percent for the first & second year of the contract, two-and-a-half for the third and 1.15 for the fourth. Those come out well below the Dept. of Labor’s projections of what it should be on a twelve month average from December to December.â€
Track 4: Earlier this month, Nursing home employees held an informational picket outside the nursing home to garner public support for their plight.
One nursing assistant, who did not wish to be identified, said it may seem as though the Union is asking for too much.
But she added, you have to consider their starting salaries are, and how dependent they are upon their step increases to make a respectable living
“That’s the problem at Hillsborough County…a lot of these women who are working there are single families…and you just cannot support it. And it’s women…basically nursing assistants who are the type of person working there…and if you’re raising a family on what they’re giving, you don’t make more than poverty level.â€
Track 5: The federal poverty line for a family of four is 20 thousand dollars a year.
In New Hampshire, a family of four is considered low income under 40 thousand dollars.
This LNA or Licensed Nursing Assistant says even after several years at the nursing home, she makes just over $30,000 a year – to support a family of two childen and a stay-at-home dad.
Desiree Ducharme is a part time LNA:
“I make $11.63 an hour, and I think we should be making at least $15 or $16 an hour, if not a little more.†:05
Nevertheless, Attorney Flygare says the County’s most recent contract offer is fair.
It calls for a nearly 10% increase over two years, a cost-of-living hike, plus a one-time payment of $500.
It does not however make up what the employees have lost over the three years with no contract..
And it does away with the automatic step increases and replaces them with a merit-based compensation system.
Flygare says the county will not accept any contract with automatic step increases.
“Taxpayers have become very skeptical of those kinds of compensation systems. And the taxpayers in Hillsborough County, at least as their views are expressed through their elected officials…are no longer supportive of those kinds of compensation programs.
Track 6: But Union Negotiator Steve Lyons says a performance-based system is too subjective and doesn't give the employee any recourse.
“There has been no proposed appeals process, or anything
of that nature, and the employees have told us they’re not
comfortable jumping blindly into a system like that.†:08
And HE believes public sentiment is on the side of the workers.
However…as long as the two sides are this far apart, there’s no telling how long Hillsborough County Nursing Home employees will continue to work without a new contract.
Lyons says they cannot legally go on strike.
But they may scheduled more informational picketing in the weeks to come.
The next negotiating session is set for the end of June.
SOQ
