Health-Care Workers Rally at Midtown
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Tens of thousands of health care workers rallied at Midtown yesterday to support the budget passed by the state Legislature last week and to urge Governor Pataki not to veto funds for hospitals and nursing homes.
“I need a raise, because in New York City who can live on $9 a hour and take care of a family?” asked Marie LaGuerre, a home health aide.
“Every day things are going up and our salaries remain the same,” said Catherine Sankar, a nursing assistant at a Bronx nursing home. She added, “We need more staffing on the floors to take better care of the patients.”
The rally, the largest of eight that took place around the state, was organized by 1199 SEIU, the giant health-care workers’ union, and the Greater New York Hospital Association. Organizers estimated the turnout at 35,000.
The Legislature’s $105 billion state budget proposal includes $692.8 million more for health care programs than Mr. Pataki’s submitted in January.
“Health care is not a luxury,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told the demonstrators. “It’s a necessity! Taking health care away from the elderly, the sick, and the disabled, and taking jobs away from our hardworking healthcare employees is not how you balance a budget in a democracy.”
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said in a statement that was read at the rally, “Not only does this year’s budget restore funding to strengthen our hospitals, nursing homes, and health care system, it also provides much needed relief to taxpayers by capping local Medicaid costs. We in the Senate are proud that the budget helps protect New Yorkers by investing in programs and services in their communities that they have come to depend on to protect themselves and their loved ones in times of need.”
Michael Marr, a spokesman for Mr. Pataki, said the Legislature “has failed to make the necessary reforms that will keep our health care system the best in the world, allow us to enact a Medicaid cap for local governments, or access the $1.5 billion in new federal funds the governor secured for our hospitals and other health-care facilities.”
“We are continuing to urge the legislature to work with us to make important and needed reforms that will keep our health-care system strong,” he said in a statement.
