Revs. Jackson, Pfleger back Infinity COVID strike

SEIU chief negotiator says union has granted concessions on pay, with more talks set for Thursday

Backed by Father Michael Pfleger and Bishop Tavis Grant, the Rev. Jesse Jackson declares his support for striking SEIU Healthcare Illinois workers. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

Major Chicago religious leaders spoke out on behalf of striking nursing-home workers Wednesday outside a facility owned by Infinity Health Care in the Lakeview neighborhood.

“It’s important that we shed light on injustice,” said Apostle Carl White Jr. of Victory Christian International Ministries outside the Lakeview Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, where religious leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Father Michael Pfleger joined picketing workers with the Service Employees International Union.

The strike entered its 10th day Wednesday as almost 700 SEIU Healthcare Illinois workers remain out at 11 Infinity facilities offering long-term care across northern Illinois. They’re demanding hazard pay and personal protective equipment in the pandemic, as well as adequate staffing and a $15-an-hour wage.

“This has always been a hard job. Now it’s a dangerous job,” said Shaba Andrich, chief negotiator for the union in strike talks.

“We decided to make the first move,” Andrich said, offering concessions on pay as talks resumed Tuesday. “They have more than enough money to do the right thing.” But he added, “We can’t offer any compromises when it comes to protection.”

“We can’t offer any compromises when it comes to protection.”

SEIU strike negotiator Shaba Andrich (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

Pastor Kelli Beard of Holy Covenant United Methodist Church pointed out that Infinity received $12.7 million in COVID-19 relief funding under the federal CARES Act, but she echoed the union in charging that funding had not been passed on to workers in the form of personal protective equipment.

“They are concerned with profit over people,” said the Rev. Marilyn Pagan-Banks of San Lucas United Church of Christ.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker raised that issue as well in applauding the resumption of talks Tuesday at the start of his daily coronavirus briefing at the Thompson Center in Chicago. “There are hundreds of SEIU nursing-home workers on strike who are asking for the same type of reasonable working conditions that a large number of long-term-care facilities around Illinois have already agreed to in their own contracts,” Pritzker said. “And given the significant federal and state financial support for nursing homes during this pandemic, it’s important that workers see that funding reflected in their workplace, in their safety and their pay.”

“COVID workers should deserve COVID pay,” said Pastor Robert Jones of Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church in joining the picket line outside the Lakeview nursing home.

“Infinity, stop this standoff,” Pfleger said. “It is disturbing to me that we even have to be here to fight for justice. It’s disturbing that workers have to march and strike and fight to be respected and to be treated fairly to get adequate staffing, get PPE and necessities and a $15 minimum wage.“

“What Infinity has done is amoral, unethical, and inhumane,” said Bishop Tavis Grant of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Jackson followed him in leading the picketers in the civil-rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.”

Pritzker called for talks to continue and to achieve a swift resolution of the strike, saying, “It’s very important to me that the owner and the union are able to sit down to negotiate quickly and in good faith so they can get back to the work and the work that matters the most, which is getting our residents safely through this pandemic.”

“We applaud the governor’s statement,” said SEIU Healthcare Illinois President Greg Kelley in response. “Our members are anxious to get back into the nursing homes to deliver the professional care that residents deserve and have become accustomed to. It’s past time for a fair agreement that starts to lift essential workers out of poverty and gives them all the protections they need and deserve.”