Heroes Work Here: Healthcare Workers Protested Yesterday at Local Facility & Supervisor’s Meeting, Claim Low Wages and Not Enough Staff for Elders Under Their Care

On the left an image of the Heroes Walk Through These Doors sign. On the right, union members and their supporters hold up signs asking for higher wages.

The chant could be heard from Safeway, just down the block from the scene in front of Granada Rehabilitation Center, where staff and local in-home caregivers were demonstrating. About 30 people gathered in front of the senior care living center on Harris Street in Eureka after having lobbied the Board of Supervisors, and the union’s rally cry echoed, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, corporate greed has got to go!”  A morale-booster, a remnant from the worst period of the pandemic for healthcare workers, the banner still hung on the front of the facility proudly proclaiming that “HEROES WALK THROUGH THESE DOORS” and provided the lively union protest with an ironic backdrop as the megaphones put the exclaimed support for workers. 

Granada Rehabilitation Center and Seaview Rehabilitation Center both provide elders in Humboldt County with live-in healthcare services and end of life palliative care in congregate living arrangements which are owned by a Los Angeles based company, Rockport Healthcare Services.  According to union members with the SEIU 2015 who were in attendance, wages are inadequate to support staff, both for personnel – contributing to a higher turnover rate – but also when it comes to incentivizing and motivating new hires. In an effort to secure a living wage, and to stabilize the employee turnover rate, SEIU 2015 members are bringing their grievances to the attention of the public, starting with the Board of Supervisors on yesterday.  

A caregiver leaving the courthouse after making a statement in favor of wage increases and a better contract. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

Speaking with Margaret Caldwell, CNA, who has worked at Granada for many years with the exception of some months in the past year due to an injury exacerbated by constantly working on her feet, we learned that the staff at Granada Rehabilitation were able to organize and unionize their members during the thick of the pandemic. Caldwell said, they accomplished this in the midst of coping with viral outbreaks in the community, while tending to at-risk populations of elders who had already had more than their fair lot of COVID-19 and the trauma it wrought within the facility early on. 

Caldwell explained that although the ask is for a higher wage, there are larger concerns at play which directly pertain to patient care and staffing security.  “The most important thing for my fellow workers and I, is that we have adequate staffing,” she told us. Caldwell elaborated, “The problem is people don’t really have an incentive to stay, because our wages don’t increase commensurate to inflation. In fact, over the years, our real wages are going down due to inflation – and [are at] a very low wage rate particularly now. And so we lose people to different healthcare facilities, different career paths, and so that really results in the problem with workers who are on the floor covering more residents than they’re comfortable covering… residents having to wait too long for the call bells to be answered. So what we really need is the incentive for people to stay and make this a much longer career.” 

SEIU 2015 members gathered to rally in favor of wage increases for in-home healthcare workers and skilled nursing facility staff, Tuesday April 5th.  [Photo provided by SEIU members]

A Union member leads a chant on Harris in Eureka, following the group appearance at the board of supervisors meeting Tuesday. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

A nurse we spoke to from the Windsor Redding Care Center noted that in comparison to wages paid in the Redding area, the Eureka facilities are offering less for the same jobs.

Speaking to several of the union members on the street in front of the Granada rehabilitation Center in Eureka, it was clear that many of the staff have grievances related to wages, some specifically related to hiring bonuses that were advertised, but not necessarily made available for reasons that are unclear. 

Advertised on a sandwich board at the front of the property, new hires are encouraged to call (707) 496-1090 for information about part-time or full-time gigs for licensed healthcare workers. The employment advertisement notes CNA’s receive “an extra 5$ per hour bonus” with LVN’s offered $9.50 per hour more. Though not on the advertisement, we’re told that, and Registered Nurses are offered a full $10 per hour on top of the hourly wage, which was not advertised. However, staff complained they didn’t receive the bonuses.  

According to supporting union members who traveled from Redding, the short-staffing and inadequate wage concerns on the part of staff are not unique to Humboldt County.  

Granada’s street-side job opening advertisement, promoting a bonus structure that has been elusive to many new hires, despite COVID-19 ‘hiring incentives’ which prompted the healthcare industry to offer such incentives. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

Staff and supporters at the protest. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]