As negotiations sputter, nursing homes workers in Connecticut edge closer to a strike. A walkout affecting 1,000 nursing home residents could come this week.

With a potentially traumatic nursing home strike looming in Connecticut this week, Gov. Ned Lamont is offering $280 million in federal and state assistance to boost wages and support struggling privately-owned facilities in the state.

Lamont’s offer comes after days of fruitless negotiations between the workers and nursing home owners and as the union representing thousands of health care employees in Connecticut authorized a strike at six additional nursing homes Monday, bringing the total number of long-term care facilities affected by the potential walkout to 39.

The workers are pressing for higher wages and more staff to care for residents. Representatives of the nursing home industry say it is struggling financially, with more empty beds and higher costs during the pandemic. While state government has no formal role in the negotiations, Lamont’s office has been working to broker a deal.

“We’re trying to do anything we can to avoid a strike,’' Lamont said. “The nurses of the nursing homes have been extraordinary throughout this COVID crisis taking care of the residents there, folks most a need, and we need them, taking care of the residents now.”

Nursing homes and state officials are developing contingency plans to care for about 1,000 nursing home residents, including moving them to other facilities if necessary.

The 39 nursing homes targeted for the strike are scattered across the state. The nursing homes include 11 operated by Genesis HealthCare, one of the nation’s chains of largest skilled nursing facilities; 11 more by iCare Health Network and 7 are run by RegalCare.

The strike announcement came after a weekend of unsuccessful negotiations between the union, SEIU District 1199 of New England, and nursing home owners. The showdown pits an industry devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic against the low-wage employees that have had to provide care as the virus raced through their workplace.

“We’re just so tired right now,’' Tanya Beckford, a certified nursing assistant who works with dementia patients and endured her own coronavirus infection last year, said during a press call organized by the Service Employees International Union Monday.

“We have exhausted all of our energy to try and get the governor to understand what this fight is about,’' she added. “We do not want a strike right now because we know were leaving our residents behind.”

Beckford said poor pay and stressful conditions have led many nursing home workers to quit and take jobs at fast-food restaurants or driving for Uber. Unionized non-clinical nursing home employees earn between $12 to $15 an hour; non-unionized workers generally earn minimum wage. (Salaries for licensed practical nurses, registered nurses and other members of the medical staff are significantly higher.)

If the parties fail to reach an agreement, walkouts could occur as soon as Friday. Replacement workers would be hired if a strike occurs, but some residents would have to be moved to different nursing homes.

“We understand there’s an urgency,’' said Paul Mounds, Lamont’s chief of staff who has been closely involved with the negotiations. He is working with the state Department of Public Health, public safety officials and the National Guard to mitigate what could be “a very disruptive strike,” he said.

A strike could be traumatic for elderly nursing home residents as well as costly to the state. The state Department of Public Health licenses skilled nursing facilities that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in funding primarily through the federal Medicaid program.

Matthew Barrett, president of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, said nursing home operators are facing a period of unprecedented financial instability, with some experiencing “negative cash flow” due to occupancy rates that, in some cases, have slipped below 70%.

“A major investment in nursing homes is needed now as a bridge to the other side of the pandemic, and even more resources are needed to address collective bargaining issues” Barrett said. “It is simply unreasonable and unrealistic to expect nursing home operators to enter into costly multi-year increased funding commitments to address collective bargaining issues without the resources needed to pay for those increased costs.”

Barrett said hiring replacement workers during the strike would be costly for the owners of the homes and could be potentially devastating for residents.

Nursing homes are responsible for transportation and lodging of replacement workers and other costs, such as increased security. These increased costs would be paid for by state taxpayers under Connecticut’s Medicaid program, he said.

In a letter sent Monday to both the industry and the union, the Lamont administration outlined its proposals to stabilize the industry, including a temporary 10% increase in Medicaid funding, from July 1 through March 31, 2022, for nursing homes that meet certain benchmarks.

The administration is also offering to increase its funding to the industry by $47.3 million in fiscal 2022 and $102.2 million in fiscal 2023, with all of the funds earmarked for wage increases in each of the next two years. This include wage hikes of 4.5% for employees in 2022 and again in 2023.

The state is also offering hazard pay, money for additional training and a “one-time pension enhancement,’' according to the letter.

“It’s a significant package,’' Lamont said, “[a] real increase in terms of the Medicaid rates, plus a 10% bump up to help the nursing homes themselves, increase in pay for the nurses, combat pay for the nurses. This is on top of hundreds of millions of dollars last year as well.”

The governor’s plan would be largely funded by federal COVID-19 relief funds. Several Democratic lawmakers were critical of that approach and have been advocating for tax increases on high-income people to pay for wage increases for the workers.

“The federal dollars are just for an urgent use right now and we have a chronic problem and we have to have a long-term strategy to try and address the challenges,’' Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, said during the SEIU press call.

The union also released a study completed by the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic of the Yale Law School. The report described a lack of personal protective equipment, infection control failures, staffing shortages and a general lack of oversight by state regulatory agencies.

Beckford, the union member, appealed to the governor’s office to hear her concerns. “I ask this governor one more time to please put money into his budget so we can get better wages,’' she said. “This strike is going to be on his conscience.”

Daniela Altimari can be reached at dnaltimari@courant.com.

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