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March 15, 2005
 
Nursing Home Employees Have Their Own 'Norma Rae' Championing Their Cause in Huntington; Sarah Vaughn Refuses to Take Any More Screaming and Fingers Pointed Down Her Nose
 
by Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Writer
 
Huntington (HNN) — When Norma Rae stood up on a table at a southern garment factory holding a "UNION" sign in her hands, she became an organized labor icon. Despite harassment, belittlement and arrest, Norma - nor the fledgling union - gave in to the plant's unfair labor practices.
 
When 70 Heritage Manor Nursing Home workers went on strike Monday, March 14, 2005, they had a determined woman standing up for their rights, too. Sarah Vaughn, a cook, has been on the negotiating committee between Genius Corporation and the Service Employees International Union. Although Heritage Manor has been unionized since the 1980s, the SEIU claims the corporation this time will not bargain in good faith.
 
Employees like Sarah Vaughn and Chris Barham, a CNA, told HNN the strike goes beyond wages and benefits. "It's about dignity and respect," Barham said.
 
Vaughn described a typical day at the Manor as "not bad," until contract negotiations came around. The employer is "not bringing anything to the table to negotiate," she explained. Worse still, when the administrator found out she was on the negotiating committee, he "was in my face screaming with his fingers pointed down my nose."
 
Like the other employees, Vaughn views the residents as "family members...they're just like our own grandparents." Continuing to express empathy for the residents, Vaughn and Barham both believe the company has overreacted by bring in security guards with guns to patrol outside the nursing home.
 
The tall CNA said the residents "cried" when the workers left the building. Now both of these members assert that while replacement workers have been brought in from other Genius homes and hired and brought back [some] people previously fired by the company "for neglect."
 
Vaughn emphasized that most of the replacements do not have the training and certification of the striking workers. "The people working now are not even certified [at performing] all the kinds of jobs" for which they have been hired, she said.
 
Asked whether the union/management disputes could go to court, Vaughn shook he head. "We don't want this to end up in court. We just want to get back in there and take care of our residents...it's like a compound [now], a jail or prison."
 
Still, Vaughn and her union workers have determination to prevail. "They are not going to threaten me anymore. I'm not going to allow it. We should not have to work like that," the cook commandingly stated.
 
Barham agreed, adding, "It's not respectful when they scream and curse at us in front of family members. We've had excellent administration in here before...but this takes the cake. They have off-duty officers from the sheriff's department carrying guns around these residents who are scared out of their minds. They want us back in the building. They have strange people taking care of them. They have all of this whooping and hollering."
 
Unfortunately, the patients probably will not have their familiar family members back anytime soon. As Rob Johnson, administrative organizer for SEIU explained, "this is a full blown strike. Until the employer comes to the table, we are not giving in."
 
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The writer, Tony Rutherford, can be reached by email at .
 
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