Statement of Milly Silva, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, in recognition of International Women’s Day 2019:

“Today, the healthcare workers of 1199SEIU celebrate the achievements of women in the struggle for equality and renew our call for decent jobs and safe working environments.

“Founded over a century ago to commemorate the heroism of 20,000 immigrant women who went on strike to protest dangerous working conditions in New York City’s garment industry, International Women’s Day is now observed by hundreds of millions of people across the globe.

“International Women’s Day is not just a day for celebration, but for action. Here in New Jersey, women continue to be employed disproportionally in industries that are low-paid, exploitative, and dangerous. Not least of these is the nursing home industry, where the overwhelming majority of workers, as well as their patients, are women.

“More nursing aides are injured on the job each year than workers of any other profession. Ninety percent of these caregivers are women, and one quarter are immigrants. In New Jersey alone, there were 5,700 cases of occupational injuries and illnesses in nursing and residential care facilities in 2017. At the same time, the staffing levels for nursing aides in our state continue to rank among the worst in the nation, contributing to the difficulty and danger of providing quality care.

“These realities make it abundantly clear—New Jersey must act to bring relief to caregivers and their patients by passing bill A382, to establish safe and compassionate staffing levels in nursing facilities. This legislation was passed by the Senate over eight months ago but has been stonewalled in the Assembly ever since. This is unacceptable and an affront to the women caregivers who so often sacrifice their own health and wellbeing to take care of others.

“The time is over for women’s work to be discounted, undervalued, and ignored. New Jersey needs to recognize the tremendous effort that caregivers take to care for our communities’ most vulnerable seniors and pass A382 without further delay.”

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1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in New Jersey and nationwide. We represent over 16,000 healthcare families in New Jersey and over 400,000 total members throughout New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, and Washington, D.C.   Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.