Editor, OBSERVER:
To sell the Chautauqua County Home to a private owner would be busting a big union. Not only would the county numbers in the union go down, but the county employees hired back at the private employer's discretion would be forced to beg for a raise or benefit if they had no hard earned right to them.
They would all be hired at day one. No shift seniority and no union to stand up for the standards for the patients either. The union does a lot more for the County Home than you think.
Their right to dignity in their care is the utmost reason for the union's being, as far as I am concerned. The staffing and the discipline keep the family atmosphere alive and well. Other County Homes do not want us to privatize either, they might end up with our Medicare patients. They are already taking care of their own defenseless elderly. They have enough to do. We have to suck it up and take care of our own.
Most of the county residents I have talked to would be glad to pay a few dollars extra in our taxes rather than lose such a valuable property to a stranger who never lived in Western New York or Chautauqua County and truly does not care. Is that what we have chosen for our loved ones? An unprotected, understaffed, defenseless end of life? What did they do to deserve that!?
SANDRA MINIRI
Villenova
