Union health workers at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy say the way the state hires employees contributes to understaffing at the government-operated facility.
Members of the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees maintain that the state’s centralized hiring system, operated through the state’s Department of Central Management Services, takes too long.
“The system that they have does not work,” said Local 1787 President Jennifer Hudelson, who has worked as a nurse assistant at the Quincy facility for more than a decade. “It doesn't work when it takes four to six months to hire somebody. By then, they've already found a job.”
Illinois operates five homes for veterans and their spouses. The one in Quincy is the state’s largest, with approximately 300 residents.
Workers at the home are state employees. The state’s centralized hiring department is in charge of posting jobs and hiring.
During a picket this week outside the home’s entrance, workers called for the state to allow homes to hire their own employees.
Hudelson said the state-operated hiring takes power away from facilities and makes the application process take longer, with the wait time and sometimes dysfunctional online application process discouraging potential workers.
The Quincy home has around 120 veterans nursing assistants. Ideally, there would be approximately 180, she said.
“I have talked to numerous people who want a job with the state, because we do have great benefits, we have a great contract, we have great pay,” Hudelson said. “They just can't get hired on because they can't walk in and get hired. They have to go through this monthslong, six-month-long process, and it just doesn't work.”
Representatives of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs said that as of this week, the agency has posted new Quincy-based positions that include provisions outlined in a recently signed union agreement, which those from the department and the union think will attract more workers.
That agreement establishes a pilot program that allows nursing assistants with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union to work three 36-hour shifts per week.
“Since reaching agreement with AFSCME, the department has been working as swiftly as possible to implement the pilot program safely and appropriately,” officials said in an email. “We appreciate AFSCME’s interest in accelerating it and voicing that through today’s picket, but we’ve taken many steps to move this forward for a successful launch.”
Such assistants are a “core title in veterans homes that work directly with residents to provide their care and supports,” union officials said in a statement. They said the agreement “would help improve staffing ratios at the home and alleviate stress and strain on current employees.”
