Nursing home employees around the state picketed Monday because of stalled contract negotiations, including in Yonkers and Ossining.

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers are calling for a 3% pay raise, $3,000 in hazard pay for working through COVID, and adequate staffing.

Arshma Middleton, a certified nurse’s assistant, has worked at Yonkers Gardens Nursing Home for 25 years. She says she needs to be able to take of three kids at home.

“When you come here every day, you see the same patients every day, it's just like family,” she says. “The cost of living went up—just be fair to us, that's all we're asking for."

Members voted that they will strike if their employer doesn't agree to their terms.

“We have been working overtime, we've been working understaffed,” says Shanna-Kay Shaw, of Yonkers Gardens Nursing Home. “Normally, we don't have enough staff to cover the floors."

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers is meeting with their employer Tuesday to negotiate.

The union told News 12 that usually when they threaten to strike, an agreement is ultimately reached, so they are hopeful.

The union has not held a strike since 1989.

News 12 reached out to Yonkers Gardens and Cedar Manor Nursing Home in Ossining but hasn’t heard back.