Workers at six Chicago-area Landmark nursing homes say they'll walk off the job at 6 a.m. on October 16 if management doesn't agree to a new contract, escalating a labor dispute over pay the union calls below industry standard. The threatened strike would hit Landmark of Lincoln Park, Landmark at 95th, Landmark of Oak Lawn, Landmark of Itasca, Landmark of Cicero and Momence Meadows, all unionized under SEIU Healthcare Illinois.
The union says it has been unable to reach an agreement with Landmark on a fair contract, according to CBS News Chicago, which reported the strike notice. Workers at the six facilities currently make below-industry-standard wages, the union says, making it harder to retain experienced caregivers and recruit new ones. SEIU argues that pay gap contributes directly to staffing instability that affects continuity of care for residents.
Central to the union's argument is a comparison point: more than 120 other nursing homes in the region already pay their unionized staff significantly higher wages than what Landmark workers currently earn, per the union. That gap didn't always exist in its current form. Until October 2024, the Illinois Association of Health Care Facilities ran a multi-employer bargaining alliance that set a single master contract covering wages and benefits across more than 126 nursing homes in Illinois, according to SEIU Healthcare. After operators disbanded the association, SEIU continued negotiations with individual operators.
Federal Records Show Low Staffing Scores and Abuse Flags
Independent of the labor dispute, federal inspection data paints a troubling picture at several of the targeted homes. Medicare Care Compare gives Landmark of Lincoln Park and Landmark at 95th an overall rating of 1 out of 5 stars. CMS evaluates facilities on health inspections, staffing hours per resident, and clinical quality measures to arrive at those scores.
Landmark of Lincoln Park carries an Abuse Warning Icon on its public Medicare profile.
Federal inspection data lists 98 findings for Landmark at 95th and $0 in civil monetary penalties.
Parent Company SAK Healthcare Has Closed Another Facility
The Landmark homes' parent company is SAK Healthcare. As of publication, CBS News Chicago reported that SAK Healthcare had not responded to a request for comment on the strike notice.
The firm's recent track record in the region includes a closure rather than a turnaround. In August 2025, Hearthstone Communities, a Woodstock senior living and nursing home facility managed by SAK Healthcare, filed a state WARN notice announcing its permanent closure and the layoff of 117 employees, according to Shaw Local.
A Statewide Staffing Problem, Not Just a Landmark One
The union frames the dispute as a strike over unfair labor practices, meaning workers would walk out specifically over management's alleged failure to meet bargaining demands rather than solely over economic terms. In December 2020, 700 SEIU Healthcare Illinois members at 11 Chicago-area nursing homes run by Infinity Healthcare Management staged a 12-day strike. After the settlement, workers' average hourly wage was $15.68, and they received hazard pay of $2.50 per hour, according to In These Times.
Staffing shortfalls, however, extend well beyond Landmark's six homes. Illinois law requires skilled care facilities to provide at least 3.8 direct care hours per resident day, but state regulators delayed enforcement penalties for facilities that miss that threshold until 2025, according to WTTW News. A July 2024 analysis by the same outlet of staffing data submitted to CMS by nursing homes found just 16% of Illinois nursing homes met standards in the final federal staffing rule, published in May 2024, with 81% falling short of required nurse aide hours.
Research on Medicaid payments has found that reimbursement can fall short of nursing home costs. The union points to 120 other unionized homes already paying higher wages as evidence that fair pay is achievable. With the strike deadline now just days away, it remains to be seen whether a new contract will materialize before residents and families at the six Landmark homes face a walkout.
