Galesburg Labor Day - Pride and a Demand for Action

Pride and a Demand for Action from SEIU Healthcare Workers

Forty SEIU Healthcare workers and their families donned their purple for the annual Galesburg Labor Day parade. And this year, the SEIU marchers had a float with a message: The State of Illinois has to help fix Michael Lerner’s GEM Healthcare nursing homes by placing them into receivership.

In the past two years, the four Lerner/GEM nursing homes have been cited with 77 violations in providing resident care. 83% of those violations were serious meaning they could lead to, or
actually caused, serious harm. Our complete report is here.


Lerner’s Galesburg Terrace facility has shocking caregiver turnover rates, largely driven by holding worker pay at minimum wage levels. According to the most recently obtained records, fully 77% of Galesburg Terrace certified nurse assistants and helping hands have been on the job for less than 2 years. Those workers provide the majority of direct care to nursing home residents. Studies show that high caregiver turnover has a negative affect on providing quality care to residents.

SEIU Healthcare is also taking its message public through newspaper, radio and other ads, as well as on the web at Lerner: No Gem.