Carolyn Parker

Carolyn Parker, a medical records coordinator at Baltimore's Wesley Nursing Home for 22 years, remembers the “bad old days”.

“When I first started at my facility there was no Union,” she recalls.  “At that time, the bosses could fire you at will. Your raise was based on whether they felt you did a good job and the highest raise for one year ranged from 25 cents to 35 cents. If, in their eyes, you didn’t do a good job, a raise could be as low as a penny for the entire year.  We were left at the mercy of the bosses.

Things began to change in 1997 when another worker approached about signing a card for the Union to come into Wesley.

“We met at each other’s homes and that is when things began to formulate,” she says. “Later we had a vote. It wasn’t the majority the way we wanted but it was enough to get the Union in. I am glad we have 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers- East as our voice, because in 1997 we were a group of people that were basically silenced by our employers.  As long as 1199SEIU exists, I will do my best to keep its existence in Wesley!”