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Nursing home workers strike as union calls for investigation of St. Louis facility
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - 11/8/2021
Nov. 8—CLAYTON — A union representing nursing home workers is calling for a government investigation into the operator of a 90-bed facility in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.
The union, Service Employees International Union Healthcare Missouri, has been locked in contract negotiations for over a year with the owners of Blue Circle Rehab and Nursing, located at 2939 Magazine Street in St. Louis.
The facility is licensed for 90 beds, and had 60 residents, as of Oct. 24, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Lenny Jones, state director for SEIU Healthcare Missouri, said the union has been pushing for higher wages, better health insurance, and for the ability to create a safety committee for the facility.
"We have been trying to bargain a new contract with improvements that address safety and staffing, but the owners are bargaining in bad faith" Jones said.
More than a dozen workers have been on strike since Friday, and on Monday the union called for St. Louis and St. Louis County to investigate Blue Circle and other nursing homes under the same owners.
An attorney representing the nursing home's owners declined to comment on the union's claims.
The new ownership group, Blue Circle Holding LLC, has owned the facility since 2019, according to federal records. Jones said the new owners agreed to most of the terms of the previous contract. Then in October of 2020, negotiations began for a new contract. Jones called a 13-month negotiation "very rare" for a nursing home with an existing contract in place.
In March, workers protested outside of the facility, demanding a $15 minimum wage and stronger health protections. In August the union filed a complaint against the nursing home with the National Labor Relations Board. In September workers went on a one-day strike.
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