Lucilda Pottinger

Home Health Aide / All Metro Home Care / New York, NY

Lucilda Pottinger, a home health aide for the past 10 years at All Metro Home Care in Manhattan, likes to know her rights.

“We’ve had a Union contract for 18 months now, and it’s a big relief,” she says. “Before, we had no paid sick leave, health coverage was too expensive for me to afford, and we had very little vacation time. Now we have 12 paid sick days, full health coverage, and much better vacations. And if something’s not right in the work place, I’m not scared to go to talk to the boss.”

Pottinger became an 1199SEIU Delegate because “I like to exercise my rights and pass the information on to others who may not know their rights.” To do this, she says, she studies what’s in the Union contract.

 Pottinger, who has seven grown children, worked for six years at All Metro with no health coverage. “It cost $21 a week, and I couldn’t afford it,” she says. “I had to pay hospital bills out of my pocket. It feels good today to know I have coverage. If I’m sick, I don’t have to worry if I can afford to go to the doctor.”