Maria Regina Rehab and nursing home employees demonstrate, seeking inaugural contract with new owner

Newly unionized workers at Maria Regina Rehabilitation and Nursing in Brentwood and their allies picketed Wednesday, calling on the nursing home's owner to approve an inaugural bargaining agreement that would increase pay and employer health insurance contributions.

Union officials said negotiations have stalled on a collective bargaining agreement for the care center’s roughly 200 employees, including certified nursing assistants, nurses, social workers, rehabilitation staff and others.

Employees are asking for increased contributions to health insurance benefits and increased pay for the facility, especially for its lowest earners, said Patricia Wilson, a vice president at 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents the Maria Regina workers.

"A majority of workers are very dedicated," Wilson said. "They're committed to this place and they stayed out of loyalty to their residents. They stayed because a promise was made to them that we're going to improve your benefits and your wages."

Employees voted to unionize in October 2022, but contract negotiations were postponed by agreement until last year as the facility transferred ownership, according to Wilson. Since August 2024, negotiations with the new owner have stalled and the parties have yet to reach an agreement, she said.

Tanya Randolph, the administrator of Maria Regina, in a phone interview said negotiations are "still ongoing on both sides."

"They have health care benefits. Since the new ownership has taken over, they have gotten raises," Randolph said. "We really don't understand what the rationale is behind them being out there. I believe it's more driven by [the union] more than the workers. The employees here are treated very well and they're great employees."

Maria Regina offers short-term rehabilitation, long-term nursing care, hospice care and other services. More than 60 Maria Regina staff joined union demonstrators on their lunch breaks throughout Wednesday, 1199SEIU press secretary Rose Ryan said.

Karen Soriano of Brentwood, a nurse at Maria Regina, said she loves working at the nursing home but also feels entitled to the benefits that would come with a new contract. 

"Prices are crazy and they're just rising," Soriano said. An increase in wages and health insurance contributions would be "really beneficial," she added.

Suffolk County Legis. Sam Gonzalez (D-Brentwood), who joined the union’s demonstration Wednesday, said he would try to help pressure Maria Regina ownership to finalize its agreement with the union.

"The people there work hard. They work very hard taking care of the people inside Maria Regina, and all they want is a fair contract," he said.

Diana Burkeen, a recreational therapist at Brookside Multicare Nursing Center in Smithtown for 27 years, said her health insurance as a unionized employee was vital in staying out of debt after her treatment for breast cancer.

"Just knowing that I had that security makes so much of a big difference for my health," she said.