Nursing home workers win COVID concessions

NewsJanuary 29, 2021

After several rounds of negotiations, NUHW members at SF Post Acute won an agreement this month to provide additional COVID-related safety and economic improvements.

Under the agreement, the nursing home will provide an additional 80 hours per week of paid sick leave through March 31 for workers who contract COVID-19, are subject to a COVID-related quarantine order or are prohibited from working due to concerns of potential COVID-19 transmission. The benefits will be the same as what was required by the California Supplemental Sick Leave Act, which expired at the end of last year.

The agreement also requires the nursing home to pay workers a bonus whenever there is at least one COVID-positive resident. The differential will be $3 per hour in the red zone, $2 in the yellow zone and $1 in the green zone.

Additionally, the home must provide an N95 respirator and face shield to workers anytime they are working in the red or yellow zones.

“This agreement will benefit everybody,” said Luz David, a certified nursing assistant at SF Post Acute. “It will protect us and our patients from the risk of COVID-19 transmission, while honoring the sacrifices we are continuing to make caring for patients during the pandemic.”