Home health care workers visit the homes of elderly people to provide many basic services. They cook, feed, and bathe senior citizens, as well as change bandages, dress wounds, and help them exercise.

Premier workers voted 20 months ago to join Local 1199, but the company has refused to negotiate a contract. On June 15, the workers voted to authorize a strike. During the rally a delegation of workers went to Premier’s offices to deliver written notification of their intent to strike in 30 days if the company does not negotiate a contract.

Workers at Premier receive no health coverage, no sick days, and no pensions. The company pays most workers $6.25 per hour and many do not work full weeks.

"I worked only 17 hours last week," Yvonne Montague, 39, explained to the Militant. "I had six or seven time sheets totaling 17 hours at $6.75 an hour." Montague, who has worked for Premier since 1998, had a client for several years, but since that client died and a subsequent client switched agencies, she has not had steady work.

"When we work on holidays," Montague said, "we only get $1 an hour added on to our regular pay. We need $8 or $9 an hour, overtime pay, and guaranteed hours," she stated.

Carmen Dennis, 33, agreed with Montague and added that the workers need medical benefits. "The health plan the boss offered us was just the Medicaid plan the government already offers," she said.

Ramona Ortiz, who has worked at Premier for 10 years, makes $7.50 an hour. "This company does not want to give us better wages or any benefits," she said.

Workers at Premier can take a vacation only after working 2,000 hours in a year. With short weeks, "most of us never get a vacation," Ortiz said. "We are demanding that the company use the same standard as others in the industry, that we get one hour of vacation for every 26 hours worked. So no matter how many hours we work in a year, everyone is guaranteed some time off."  
 
 
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