Respect for Haitian elder-care workers

ON MARCH 25, 2005, the care workers at Wakefield Nursing Home voted by a 2-to-1 margin to join the Service Employees International Union in a democratic election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.

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These certified nursing assistants, dietary aides, and maintenance staff made this decision out of a desire to win more workplace respect, job security, and compensation for the work they do: caring for frail and elderly residents of Massachusetts.

What you will notice about the care staff of Wakefield Nursing Home, aside from their obvious love for and commitment to the residents of the facility, is that the majority of them are immigrant women from Haiti. In fact, the majority of care workers in almost every nursing home in the Greater Boston area are Haitian-Americans. Elder care in Massachusetts would fall apart if not for the contributions of the Haitian community. Come to any of the scores of Catholic, Baptist, Nazarene, Pentecostal, or Seventh Day Adventist Haitian churches in Massachusetts on a Sunday or Saturday and you will find yourself surrounded by strong women and men who have devoted their lives to caring for others.

Things are changing for the Haitian community in Massachusetts. Estimated at 100,000 strong and growing, we are not satisfied with second-class treatment, and we have begun to command recognition and respect from the commonwealth's political and business leaders.

Last fall our community's religious and civic leadership, organized through the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, came together with Attorney General Thomas Reilly and the Massachusetts Extended Care Federation to end the practice of language discrimination against Haitian care workers in Massachusetts nursing homes.

Our churches are becoming more active in the political affairs of our community. The early fruits of our church-based voter education and mobilization efforts can be seen in the recent election of Linda Dorcena Forry, a Haitian-American woman (and daughter of a care worker) to replace former speaker Thomas Finneran in the 21st Suffolk District.

We are also more prepared to respond to attacks on our community.

After last month's union election, Harborside Health Care, the national corporation that owns Wakefield Nursing Home, should have recognized the autonomy and self-determination of these devoted workers. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. Instead, Harborside filed an objection with the NLRB. Harborside claimed that the election should be invalidated because one of the Haitian care workers used her ''religious voodoo powers" to influence the votes of her colleagues.

Marie Chery, the nursing assistant in question, is a lifelong Seventh Day Adventist. She adheres to a religious practice of observing the sabbath and a strict vegetarian diet, as is our religious custom. She is a Christian, not a possessor of ''religious voodoo powers," and for Harborside to suggest otherwise based on their own stereotypes of Haitians is an insult to her and to the entire Haitian community. At best, this ridiculous charge smacks of gross cultural insensitivity on the part of Harborside. At worst, it is an indicator of deep and pervasive racism and animosity towards the Haitian community.

Unfortunately, this type of attitude toward Haitians is quite familiar. Haitian care workers have endured mistreatment for decades, to the significant detriment of the elderly and infirm residents in their charge who are put at risk by this culture of disrespect.

However, corporations like Harborside Health Care can no longer expect that the Haitian community will sit by idly in the face of such treatment.

In response to our protests, Harborside Health Care has quietly withdrawn its objection from the NLRB and has recognized the election of SEIU Local 2020. It has also declined to make any other comment on this controversy. That is not a sufficient corporate response to a mistake of this magnitude.

The Haitian clergy and civic leaders of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization call upon Harborside Health Care to issue a public apology both to Chery and to the larger Haitian community for its gross insensitivity.

We fully expect that this call will be echoed by our elected officials as well as the owners and administrators of other nursing facilities who recognize the contributions of the Haitian community and who are upset that their industry's reputation is being tarnished by Harborside's actions.

A Haitian Creole proverb says ''Many hands make a heavy load light." Last month, Haitian care workers and colleagues of the Wakefield Nursing Home came together to demand a better life for themselves, their families, and the residents in their care. Today the Greater Boston Haitian community and it allies also join hands to let every company in Massachusetts know that we will no longer be passive in the face of such debasing stereotypes, racist remarks, and unfounded accusations.

Eddly Benoit is an elder of Temple Salem Seventh Day Adventist Church in Dorchester and member of the board of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization.