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Healthcare workers condemn Senate vote to lower wages for Missouri’s working families

SAINT LOUIS — Home care, nursing home, and hospital workers who are members of SEIU Healthcare Missouri condemned today’s vote in the Missouri Senate to send so-called “right to work” legislation to the Missouri House, despite bipartisan opposition and widespread concern about the law’s impact on worker wages:

“It’s incredibly frustrating that politicians are spending their time working for special interests and lowering our wages instead of focusing on real issues that matter to working families,” said Caprice Nevils, SEIU Healthcare Missouri Executive Board Member and Care Partner at St. Louis University Hospital. “The frontline healthcare providers that I work with every day deserve better wages, but legislation like this is only going to make it harder for our families to make ends meet.”

“There’s a reason why leaders in both parties opposed these attacks, and a reason why thousands of workers have been calling their senators and representatives to stop the assault on working Missourians — this is bad news for wages, benefits, and safe workplaces in Missouri,” said Nevils.

SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana Missouri Kansas is the fastest-growing union of healthcare, child care, home care and nursing home workers in the Midwest. Uniting more than 90,000 workers who provide vital services to our states’ children, seniors, patients and people with disabilities, we are committed to quality care for those we serve and quality jobs for caregivers and healthcare professionals.

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