Administrative Organizer Emmanuel White, front, led the charge of healthcare workers peacefully demonstrating in the midst of contract negotiations a year ago in Dunkirk. P-J file Photo

WESTFIELD — Today, across Western New York, more than 300 healthcare workers will be taking a stand for better pay, benefits and union rights.

Healthcare workers at Living Legends Network facilities in Westfield, East Aurora and Allegany will hold informational pickets to stand against management proposals of what the workers deem below standard wages, despite others within the same network of employees being paid more for the same work.

“We are constantly understaffed and overworked, said Karly Beaujean, Licensed Practical Nurse at Absolut Care of Westfield. “We are constantly burned out. When new staff come in, they end up leaving. If we were able to offer the same or better wages like other nursing homes in our area, then hopefully new workers would stay and help us give the residents the care they deserve.”

The current one-year contract between the healthcare workers and their employer, Absolut Care, of the Living Legends Network, is set to expire April 30. Both sides have been negotiating since early February, but issues still remain. Caregivers believe management is currently proposing notably less than the wage standard established at other area union nursing homes they own.

Caregivers at four Absolut Care facilities – Allegany, Aurora Park, Orchard Brooke, and Westfield – include Licensed Practical Nurses, Certified Nurse Assistants, Home Health Aides, Patient Care Assistants, Medical Techs, Housekeepers, Cooks, and Dietary Workers. The workers are represented by 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. A year ago, caregivers at the Dunkirk Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Lake Shore Drive held a similar protest led by 1199SEIU, led by a chant of “When they say cutback, we say fight back,” by Administrative Organizer Emmanuel White.

The four facilities are owned and operated by members of the Living Legends Health Network which includes Absolut Care, McGuire Group, Taconic Health Care, and VestraCare.

Three of the four facilities are currently undergoing a change in ownership through New York State Department of Health. The for-profit residential health care facilities will be owned by Michael Farbenblum, Menachem Tauber, and Mordechai Mendlowitz if approved by New York State Department of Health.

Both sides planned to return to negotiations this morning. Workers will hold a vote regarding a potential strike in the coming days if there is no resolution.