We read with interest “As strike deadline looms, CT nursing homes face added costs.” As a Connecticut personal injury law firm that has spent more than 35 years representing victims of nursing home abuse and neglect, we have seen up close what happens when a system built to care for the elderly begins to collapse under its own weight.
We’ve seen the trauma: residents who have been dropped during transfers, patients suffering from untreated pressure sores, individuals given the wrong medication, and others left neglected for hours due to short staffing. We’ve represented families who never imagined their loved one’s final chapter would include preventable pain and indignity.
These aren’t rare occurrences — they are systemic. And the numbers back that up. According to Medicare.gov’s “Find and Compare” feature, as of May 7, 2025, 86 of Connecticut’s 195 listed nursing homes have received just one or two stars out of their 5-star quality rankings. That should alarm every family with a loved one in long-term care. And now, with 5,700 unionized caregivers threatening to strike on May 27, the fragility of this entire system is on full display.
The truth is simple and sobering: when corporate nursing homes underpay and undervalue the people who care for our most vulnerable, the families suffer the consequences.
Low wages drive high turnover. Constantly rotating staff makes it harder to get familiar with resident care needs and build relationships with residents and spot early warning signs of illness or injury. Understaffed facilities are forced to rely on temporary or replacement workers who often lack the training and understanding to provide safe, consistent care. And when that happens, our most vulnerable suffer — sometimes irreparably.
The workers of SEIU 1199NE are not asking for luxury. They are asking for a livable wage. Their current pay, often between $18 and $22 per hour, does not reflect the skill, patience, and emotional labor required to care for frail, elderly, and disabled residents. They are seeking to raise base pay to $25 per hour and ultimately to $30 over time — a fair and necessary increase for professionals tasked with such critical responsibilities.
Let’s be clear: this is not a labor dispute. It is a public health issue. It is a patient safety issue. It is a moral issue.
Some industry leaders have pointed out that a strike — or even preparing for one — would cost millions in short-term expenses. That may be true. But the cost of chronic understaffing, inadequate care, and avoidable injuries will be far higher. As nursing home injury lawyers, we’ve seen the long-term financial, legal, and human consequences play out again and again and again in courtrooms, nursing home rooms, and grieving families’ living rooms.
Raising wages is a critical first step toward transforming elder care. Better pay can attract additional skilled workers, reduce turnover, and improve the standard of care. It would signal that Connecticut values both its aging population and the people who care for them.
We look forward to a future where nursing home caregivers are trained, respected, and paid like the healthcare professionals they are. A future where families feel confident entrusting their loved ones to facilities that are fully staffed, well-managed, and truly committed to dignity in aging.
We urge Connecticut’s leaders — in government, healthcare, and business — to treat this moment as an opportunity to invest in a better, safer, more humane system. Our seniors deserve nothing less. Neither do the people who dedicate their lives to caring for them.
Mike D’Amico writes on behalf of D’Amico Pettinicchi Injury Lawyers / Watertown.