ST. LOUIS — Workers rallied at three St. Louis-area nursing homes Tuesday, complaining that despite some progress last year with a new ownership group, the union has reached a standstill in contract talks.
Last spring the Service Employees International Union reached a one-year labor agreement with the ownership group, which had acquired three St. Louis-area nursing homes in 2021. That deal expired in May, and the union said bargaining for a new agreement with Luxor Healthcare has stalled.
“We have been in bargaining for over three months,” said Lenny Jones, state director for SEIU Healthcare Missouri. “They are just not making proposals that are anywhere close to acceptable.” About 280 people work at the three homes: Beauvais Rehab and Healthcare Center in the Shaw neighborhood, Hillside Rehab and Healthcare Center in the Baden neighborhood and Rancho Rehab and Healthcare Center in Florissant.
He said the company wants to lock in certified nursing assistants’ starting wages at $16 an hour from the previous contract, with no increases over the next four years. He said the company agreed to allow workers Juneteenth off — but only if they trade it for another holiday, an offer Jones called “unacceptable.” John Marino, an attorney representing Luxor in bargaining, said he thinks the groups have made “a lot of progress in negotiations.
” “Negotiations are never easy,” he said. “But we’re bargaining in good faith and we’re going to continue to do so .