Union workers at Connecticut nursing homes represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are alleged to have vandalized and sabotaged assisted living facilities in Connecticut — including those that care for Alzheimer’s patients — during a mass walkout earlier this month.
HealthBridge, which owns the nursing homes, is calling for a criminal probe after union workers allegedly tampered with medication records, removed patient identification bands and even switched the ID bands of various Alzheimer’s patients after union workers voted to stage a walkout because they were unhappy with the progress of labor negotiations between the union and HealthBridge.
According to FoxNews.com, the incidents occurred in five of the company’s nursing homes in the overnight hours before the July 3 strike, and the incidents are similar to those that occurred in 2001 at several New England nursing homes that were represented by the SEIU.
A HealthBridge told FoxNews.com that these acts were “heinous” and could have “put patients’ lives at risk” and potentially “in grave peril.”
Top Democrats in Connecticut such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Gov. Dannel Malloy and Attorney General George Jepsen are supporting the union in the labor negotiations and, according to HealthBridge, Jepsen originally rejected their request for an investigation. Jepsen, according to FoxNews.com, has since recused himself from any future investigations on this matter.
Before the union decided to strike, David Pickus, the president of the chapter, spoke about how inhumane HealthBridge officials were.
“By their outrageous, inhumane and unlawful actions, HealthBridge has given workers no other alternative,” Pickus said after the vote to strike, according to FoxNews.com. “This is yet another instance of the wealthy 1 percent waging war on the 99 percent of us who work for a living.”
Pickus has not commented on the inhumane war his union members may have waged against defenseless seniors with Alzheimer’s by endangering them just so they could get more leverage at the negotiating table or show their frustration at HealthBridge.
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