***PRESS ADVISORY***
FOR PLANNING PURPOSES: Friday, September 5, 2025
CONTACT: Daniel Hopkins, (989) 387-1226, daniel.hopkins@seiuhealthcaremi.org
DETROIT, MI — More than 100 caregivers and support staff at Optalis Health & Rehabilitation Center of Bloomfield Hills represented by SEIU Healthcare Michigan will begin a three-day unfair labor practices strike on Tuesday, September 9, following threats of mass layoffs and wage slashing.
Optalis Healthcare, run by CEO Raj Patel, took over the facility in July. The company now operates more than 30 skilled nursing facilities between Michigan and Ohio. Two weeks ago, management shocked workers at the Bloomfield Hills facility by notifying them that starting on Labor Day their wages would be slashed by up to $10 per hour, which could jeopardize residents’ care and violate the facility’s current union contract and the National Labor Relations Act.
On Friday, Aug. 29, workers issued a formal 10-day strike notice to the facility’s administration and management over unfair labor practices. In direct response, Patel and the company’s counsel, Costanzo Lijoi, have not yet implemented wage cuts but instead Patel and Lijoi notified SEIU Healthcare Michigan that the entire union workforce would be laid off on Nov. 1.
Patel initially claimed the workers’ current wages were unsustainable, until SEIU Healthcare Michigan requested to inspect the business’s financial documents, as it’s entitled to do by law when an employer makes a “declaration of poverty.” Optalis Healthcare soon walked back that declaration.
Optalis Health’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notification states its plan to permanently layoff all union staff while simultaneously continuing its operations, stating “[Optalis Health] will continue operations of its facility. The layoffs to be permanent [sic],” effectively seeking to destroy the workers’ union while threatening the care of its residents with unpredictable staffing.
“Optalis can’t claim to care about residents while threatening mass layoffs and illegal wage cuts for the caregivers who make that care possible, “ said Michael Henen, a CNA at Optalis Health & Rehabilitation Center of Bloomfield Hills and a member of SEIU Healthcare Michigan. “We’re the ones who feed, clean, and comfort residents every day, and now management wants to put their lives at risk to protect a corporate paycheck. No one wants a strike, but if Patel and his team think they can roll over workers and jeopardize resident care, they’ve got another thing coming.”
WHO: Caregivers and support staff at Optalis Health & Rehabilitation Center of Bloomfield Hills represented by SEIU Healthcare Michigan, lawmakers and community allies.
WHAT: Three-day unfair labor practices strike following threat of mass layoffs.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 9, 2025 at 8 a.m.
WHERE: Optalis Health & Rehabilitation Center of Bloomfield Hills, 2975 N. Adams Rd., Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
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