Lincolnwood Caregivers demand fair wages and benefits

"Our residents deserve more. They deserve direct care, they deserve respect. They deserve everything. And they are suffering in this process.”

"We're here today to ask for raises and for the safety of our patients. Cause if we don't get a raise, we always work short. If we get a raise, our residents will get good care. [The company] will attract more workers," said Victoria Mitchell, a Certified Nursing Assistant who has worked at Lincolnwood for 27 years. "We work short and because the rate is so low that most people go to the pool and they prefer going to the pool. [The pool is outside contracted workers] It's the pool that comes to replace us when we are off. Most people don't want to work because the rate is low. And Marquis is offering pennies to us."

After working under an expired union contract for more than four months, caregivers from Lincolnwood Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, formally Hopkins Manor, held an informational picket on Wednesday to demand that their employer, Marquis Health Services, settle a fair contract. Not only has Marquis refused to offer workers fair economic and benefit proposals, says the union, they are demanding harmful concessions from workers that would eliminate important benefits. For example, Marquis is seeking to cut additional pay to workers who have been injured on the job and out on workman's compensation, which would in essence pressure workers to return before they are fully recovered out of economic necessity.

CNA Victoria Mitchell has a relationship with residents of Lincolnwood that goes back decades. “When I come here to work, I have some of these people who connect to me. Our residents deserve more. They deserve direct care, they deserve respect. They deserve everything. And they are suffering in this process.”

The issue goes well beyond this one care facility. In 2020, Marquis Health Services, together with Tryko Partners, announced their plan to purchase Hopkins Manor for $14.5M from state receivership and invest $5M more. Marquis is a subsidiary of Tryko Partners, a private equity firm based in New Jersey with an annual revenue of $36.1M. Tryko Partners operates 6,000 skilled nursing and assisted living beds throughout the Mid-Atlantic and New England. Here in Rhode Island, in addition to Lincolnwood, Tryko Partners and Marquis own at least six nursing facilities, and are steadily expanding. The company acquired Riverview Rehabilitation & Healtheare Center property in Coventry for $7.23 million in 2022. Despite the pandemic, Tryko has continued to acquire nursing homes, citing its "commitment to investing in healthcare facilities with significant upside potential."

As workers held their high energy yet respectful informational picket at the entrance to the facility, Marquis management and owners surveilled them, at one point driving slowly past recording workers on a cellphone. While Marquis nursing home administrators are earning six figures, even the most experienced caregivers earn under $20 an hour with dietary, housekeeping, and laundry staff earning a mere $16 an hour. Marquis has offered workers a 50 cent raise during contract negotiations.

“Everything is down the drain because we are short [staffed] every day,” said Helena Stewart, a Certified Nursing Assistant who has worked at Lincolnwoods for 30 years. “We try to see if they can help us, maybe give up a couple of dollars. They don't want to do it. We are short every single day. We are short [staffed] and we're not making anything. We've been negotiating with them for a couple of months now they're not doing anything for us.”

“When you say you're short-staffed, does that mean you're doing more work because there are less people working?” I asked.

“Sometimes we get three people working,” said Helena. “Sometimes two, sometimes five, sometimes six.”

“How many people do you have to take care of?” I asked.

“52,” said Helena. “We know that everywhere is short. But if you take care of your workers, we will be willing to work more. But they don't want to take care of us. They want to put us down and we can't take that. And they're buying every nursing home in Rhode Island. Marquis is buying every nursing home. So what happens with us now? What happens with all the nursing home that they buying if they cannot afford to pay us?”

“Despite Marquis/Tryko's profitability and the low wages it pays staff, it still received millions in American Rescue Plan Act funding as well as COLA increases to their Medicaid reimbursement rates as part of the Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act for the last three years,” said SEIU 1199NE, the union representing approximately 135 caregivers at Lincolnwood including CNAs, LPN's CMTs, housekeepers, laundry and dietary aides. “What's more, Rhode Island nursing homes stand to receive a 6.9% Medicaid increase in October. Caregivers will continue to take action until Marquis offers fair economic and safety proposals that recognize the worth of their labor and utilizes public funds appropriately.”

"We've been in contract negotiations for three months with Marquis. Marquis owns some of the largest nursing homes in Rhode Island. 70 across the country. And instead of sitting down at the negotiating table they spent money on a fence," said Jesse Martin, Executive Vice President, SEIU 1199NE. "We have families we care for. We have families that deserve a retirement. We have families that deserve healthcare. Wage proposals that meet the cost of living, and bring people out of poverty, are demanded in these negotiations.

"Marquis did not set up negotiations [with us] until after receiving our info picket notice. We now have negotiations on August 3rd. As an insult to injury, they have demanded that we use a federal mediator. You know what? If a federal mediator needs to show up and tell them to give us a proposal, I'm fine with that. In our last negotiations, Marquis refused to provide an economic proposal to our union. And that is wrong. Our members deserve a living wage, competitive healthcare, retirement, and enough staff to treat the residents with dignity."

Congressional District One candidates, Walter Berbrick, Sandra Cano, and Don Carlson, attended the picket. Representative David Morales (Democrat, District 7, Providence) was also in attendance.