Nursing home, manufacturing workers separately test power of strike threats in local negotiations

Two different unions in different industries might go on strike at businesses in northwest Indiana. Workers see an opportunity to make gains locally by leveraging strike threats, echoing recent national union campaigns at companies like UPS or General Motors and other automakers.

Union staff at a nursing home in La Porte voted recently to authorize a strike. They have been negotiating their first contract with Brickyard Healthcare since 2022. Most aspects of the contract have been agreed upon. The only outstanding issue is health care.

Kandi Ginther is a certified nurse aide working at the Terrace Care Center Nursing Home as a medical technician. She’s been an employee there for 12 years. She said “tough” working conditions and lack of management support during the start of COVID-19 drove her and her colleagues to unionize with Teamsters Local 135.

“We just felt like we needed a voice, we needed resources,” Ginther said. “We needed something to give us just a little bit of power, to be able to speak for ourselves.”

Workers are now exercising that power, Ginther said, as a “large margin” voted to approve a strike authorization this month. Strike authorizations don’t immediately result in a strike, they just give unions the ability to call a strike in the future if contract negotiations fail to reach a compromise workers are willing to vote for.

“I think we're all really hoping that this pushes them to actually do something,” Ginther said. “There hasn't been a whole lot of plans made [for the possible strike] because we are really, really hoping that this does make a difference. But our team is very strong and we are very united.”

As a medical technician, her job partly involves administering prescriptions to patients. It’s “ironic,” Ginther said, that she’s not able to afford generic medications through her job’s health plan.

Jacob See also works at the home as a medical technician. He said he pays about $750 a month for coverage for himself, his wife and his child through a plan Brickyard offers from UMR. Despite the cost, See said coverage is frequently denied.

“We have given them proposal after proposal and we have backed down and lowered our proposals. They haven't shown one bit of movement,” See said. “We know they're making the money. Why can't they help us out with this?”

The union proposed the Indiana Teamsters Health Benefits Fund as an alternative to Brickyard’s current health insurance offering. In a press release, Local 135 said the union-sponsored option “would save both [Brickyard] and the employees money while providing superior benefits.”

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The union and workers See and Ginther allege Brickyard negotiators told them that “if quality, affordable insurance was offered to the employees, more employees would opt-in” to it.

“They prefer the employees to explore other options for insurance, like their parents’ plan, their spouse’s plan, or Medicaid,” the union said in its press release.

“If you have something cheaper and superior, of course more people are going to take it,” See said. “Currently, only about a third of us that are in the bargaining unit have employer insurance. And they know if it's better and cheaper, more people will want it.”

If these Teamster health workers actually end up striking, it will be the local’s second picket line in the city since manufacturing workers at packaging company Monosol went on an almost month-long strike in late 2022. The deadline for a strike to be called at the nursing home is not clear.

An hour west of La Porte, workers at a car part manufacturer in Hammond also overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike last week. Workers previously voted to reject a contract presented by the Lear Corporation and their union, United Auto Workers Local 2335.

Dave Green is the UAW regional director for Indiana and Ohio. In a video update for union members posted online, Green expressed support for the strike authorization.

“That’s what we do, right? We wanna fight to make sure we get the best contracts so our members are treated fairly, work in a safe environment and are financially able to meet their obligations,” he said in the video update. “I know the [local union representatives] are in there working hard right now to get a better agreement for their members, a just agreement that their members deserve.”

UAW Local 2335 did not respond to requests for comment. President Fausto Rodriguez told The Times of Northwest Indiana he thought his union presented a “great contract” but workers felt the proposed cost of living adjustments fell short.

The union and employer, the Lear Corporation, are now renegotiating to find a “sweet spot,” he said, and avoid a possible strike.

Lear declined to comment for this story and did not explain why.

Adam is our labor and employment reporter. Contact him at arayes@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @arayesIPB.

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