SAINT PAUL – Nursing home workers and advocates spoke out today on the first day that all nursing home workers across Minnesota will receive time-and-a-half holiday pay on MLK, Jr. holiday because of rules passed by the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board last year. While acknowledging this exciting news, workers and advocates also noted their ongoing frustration with the fact that nursing home lobby groups LeadingAge Minnesota and Care Providers of Minnesota are still working to take away sick time and end the Board with their ongoing lawsuit.
Mary Davis, a CNA for 26 years who works at a non-union facility, shared her excitement about getting time-and-a-half pay on Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday for the first time ever and her frustration with those working to roll back the law:
"I was ecstatic to hear the news and to tell my co-workers when I learned that all Minnesota nursing home workers would finally get time-and-a-half holiday pay on MLK, Jr. day and 10 other state holidays because of the Nursing Home Standards Board. I've worked at many places and have always thought this was something we already should have had because healthcare workers can't take holidays off like everyone else. It's just common sense we would get extra pay for this work and we're thankful to finally see it is a reality. It's sad that the industry is trying to roll back this change with a lawsuit. It shows what those in power feel about us, especially knowing that the CEOs get these holidays off when frontline staff have to work to make sure our residents are getting the care they need."
Rasha Ahmad Sharif, Executive Vice President of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa and leader of the Long Term Care sector, praised workers getting holiday pay and slammed the industries lawsuit trying to take away holiday pay:
“It is common sense that nursing home workers who can’t take holidays off would receive time-and-a-half pay when they have to be away from their families on these holidays. We’re so excited that thousands of workers across the state will finally have this benefit for MLK Day and all state holidays because the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board took action when they saw the short staffing crisis. It is shocking that the lobbying arm of Minnesota nursing home owners are trying to overturn holiday pay and end the Standards Board, especially since their reimbursement rates have almost doubled in the last decade and they received $300 million in taxpayer money in 2023. They should be using the money on their hardworking staff who take care of our loved ones, not on lawsuits to take away holiday pay.”
Pointing out the significance of this specific holiday, Ahmad Sharif also noted:
“MLK Day is of significance to all workers, especially union workers. MLK had a long legacy supporting workers’ rights and his assassination took place in Tennessee where he was to support the striking Memphis sanitation workers. Most importantly, as MLK’s assassination was racially motivated. Not recognizing this day while the majority of Nursing Home workers are Black and African is extremely racially insensitive and blind.”
BACKGROUND:
The Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board was created by the Minnesota legislature during the 2023 session and signed into law by Governor Walz to address the ongoing workforce shortage crisis that is hurting residents, workers and our whole state. The Board is the first of its kind in the country that covers nursing home workers and has the authority to set standards like pay & benefits.
The board brings together three government representatives, three employer representatives, and three worker representatives and has the power to set minimum labor standards, like a minimum wage above the current state floor, to help strengthen the nursing home industry for residents and workers. The Board voted for holiday pay and to raise wages for all workers to at least $20.50 in the next three years, with wage floors for certified nursing assistants in nursing homes at $24 per hour wage floor, trained medication aides at $25 per hour and licensed practical nurses at $28.50.
These critical changes were passed with the three workers and three government representatives voting yes to support these improvements while the three employer representatives abstained from the vote both times it came up despite repeated acknowledgements by all members of the Board of the need to address the worker shortage.
Minnesota has the dubious distinction of having the worst nursing home workforce shortage in the country. Nursing home workers at dozens of nursing homes have been sounding the alarm, holding rallies, and even holding the largest nursing home worker strike in state history in March of 2023. But despite huge amounts of state money sent to the industry in the previous decades, nursing home executives have refused to listen.
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