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Workers Foil Nursing Home’s Anti-Union Crusade
After years fighting a bitter union-busting campaign at a Buffalo-area nursing home, CWA Local 1168 has triumphed over high-powered lawyers and management tricks.
Workers at Sheridan Manor rejected the company’s attempt to decertify their bargaining unit, voting 56-42 for CWA in March.
The struggle for union recognition at the family-owned nursing home, in the Buffalo suburb of the Town of Tonawanda, started in 1992. For years, employees have lived in fear of losing their jobs, been forced to sit through captive audience meetings and were told repeated lies about the union’s motives, Local 1168 Organizer Michelle Murray said.
“They intimidated people into silence,” she said. “People were terrified. If they lost their jobs, where else would they go?”
In 1994, the home’s licensed practical nurses, maintenance and service workers, secretaries and other employees, voted for representation by Local 1168. The next January, they reached a tentative agreement for a contract. Then the real trouble started.
The employer, claiming it had names of workers who didn’t want a union, withdrew its recognition of the bargaining unit. That led to a six-year court battle, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling for the union last summer. Immediately, an employee who turned out to be a manager’s daughter circulated a decertification petition.
The nursing home turned on its anti-union campaign again with a vengeance, holding meetings, writing up workers with excellent track records and handing out bad reviews. “They even painted on the wall in the break room, ‘Vote No,’” Murray said.
The day before the election, near St. Patrick’s Day, the union handed out shamrock buttons to workers. The buttons said nothing but made a clear statement about solidarity.
“Management went crazy,” Murray said. “They went around counting every single shamrock button. I don’t think they realized until that point that we had that kind of support.”
Because of the union’s victory, the contract the local negotiated in 1995 is in place until April 30. Negotiations for a new contract are expected to start shortly.
In addition to Murray, Local 1168 organizers Helen Cyrulik and Terri Schelter worked on the campaign.
Workers at Sheridan Manor rejected the company’s attempt to decertify their bargaining unit, voting 56-42 for CWA in March.
The struggle for union recognition at the family-owned nursing home, in the Buffalo suburb of the Town of Tonawanda, started in 1992. For years, employees have lived in fear of losing their jobs, been forced to sit through captive audience meetings and were told repeated lies about the union’s motives, Local 1168 Organizer Michelle Murray said.
“They intimidated people into silence,” she said. “People were terrified. If they lost their jobs, where else would they go?”
In 1994, the home’s licensed practical nurses, maintenance and service workers, secretaries and other employees, voted for representation by Local 1168. The next January, they reached a tentative agreement for a contract. Then the real trouble started.
The employer, claiming it had names of workers who didn’t want a union, withdrew its recognition of the bargaining unit. That led to a six-year court battle, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling for the union last summer. Immediately, an employee who turned out to be a manager’s daughter circulated a decertification petition.
The nursing home turned on its anti-union campaign again with a vengeance, holding meetings, writing up workers with excellent track records and handing out bad reviews. “They even painted on the wall in the break room, ‘Vote No,’” Murray said.
The day before the election, near St. Patrick’s Day, the union handed out shamrock buttons to workers. The buttons said nothing but made a clear statement about solidarity.
“Management went crazy,” Murray said. “They went around counting every single shamrock button. I don’t think they realized until that point that we had that kind of support.”
Because of the union’s victory, the contract the local negotiated in 1995 is in place until April 30. Negotiations for a new contract are expected to start shortly.
In addition to Murray, Local 1168 organizers Helen Cyrulik and Terri Schelter worked on the campaign.