Glen Arden, union waging war of words in contract talks

Jul. 12--GOSHEN -- Take our labor deal or we may have to close Glen Arden, employees say the Goshen senior living facility's management recently declared during contract negotiations.

Debra Zambito, president of Elant, Glen Arden's parent company, adamantly denied the statement, accusing the employees' union, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, of waging a media battle, as workers picketed outside the Goshen facility on Thursday.

Glen Arden includes 152 independent living units, a 28-room assisted living facility and a 40-bed nursing home. SEIU represents its 44 union workers.

"The union's knowing misrepresentations are very disappointing," Zambito said in a statement. "They've gone so far as to put out a flyer that Glen Arden was 'trying to bring back slavery.' This type of outrageous accusation not only minimizes the horrors of slavery but has no place in a civil conversation."

The current labor strife over the union's expired three-year contract means that Elant's sole remaining senior living facility, and it's four former local locations, have all faced either lawsuits over seniors' living conditions or labor strife in recent months.

Once a local senior care giant, nonprofit Elant finalized the sale of nursing homes in Beacon, Goshen, Newburgh and Wappingers Falls in September 2018 to a series of holding companies that do business under the name Sapphire.

The four former Elant homes have racked up a long list of state Department of Health violations, and they face lawsuits for unsafe conditions since being sold to Sapphire owners Richard Aryeh Platschek, Robert Schuck, Esther Farkovits and Machla Abramczyk.

Workers represented by 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East also plan to picket over staffing levels at Elant's former Beacon nursing home on Monday.

Now, labor unrest has hit Elant's last facility. Currently, management pays a percentage of gross payroll for health insurance through the 1199 SEIU national benefit fund. The same goes for the workers' pension.

But Glen Arden employees say management has proposed lowering its pension contribution to 10 percent, below the 12.6 percent union-required level. That would mean management would be ineligible, per union rules, to offer a pension plan to new union workers or make future pension contributions.

Plus, those retiring before age 65, when they're eligible for full Medicare benefits, would lose their robust union health insurance because they must have the union pension plan to receive it.

Management acknowledges a desire to eliminate an employee education fund. And the union says management has offered 1 percent annual raises, not the 3 percent the union wants, provided employees buy an unspecified management-offered health plan that adds co-pays, deductibles and cost-sharing.

"I make $14 (an hour), and I've worked here 23 years," said picketer Maria Araujo, 60, of Middletown, a Glen Arden housekeeper who said she couldn't afford health insurance if she loses it before she qualifies for Medicare. "We should have good benefits because we don't get paid enough."

Management counters that the union health plan is exorbitant, and its costs keep rising, while the education fund isn't being used. Zambito said Elant is doing its best to manage the costs of providing high-quality senior services, and the union's media negotiating tactics and incivility are not helpful.

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