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Lazard's Risky Asset Management Practices at Atria Senior Living
Atria Senior Living (one of the top five senior living chains in the United States) is wholly owned by a private equity buyout fund affiliated with Lazard. Many of Lazard's investor-clients in this buyout fund are pension funds for hundreds of thousands of union members in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
More on Lazard and Wasserstein's relationship with Atria Senior Living. »
Atria workers have been organizing with SEIU Healthcare for almost a year to improve their jobs and the quality of care for residents. Instead of taking a constructive approach to resolving issues with their workers, the Lazard fund and Atria management are expending precious client resources on a risky anti-union campaign that poses serious financial and reputational risk to Atria, the Lazard fund, the fund's investors, and potentially all Lazard clients.
- Lazard's Atria managers have hired one of the country's leading union-busting law firms, Jackson Lewis LLP.
- Lazard's Atria is being investigated for violations of federal labor law, and the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against Atria for threatening to discipline, discharge, or take wage increases away from workers because of their support for forming a union. More »
- Lazard's Atria is under investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for discrimination against workers based on their national origin. More »
- Lazard's Atria managers also recently carried out a common anti-union employer tactic. Only a few months after workers began to organize, they announced "Rewards Program" of wage increases and other small benefits for hourly workers. Unfortunately, the "Rewards" translated into pennies for most Atria workers, and did little to get workers out of poverty, provide affordable health insurance to workers and their children, or ensure a secure retirement for workers who dedicate their lives to caring for our nation's seniors. More »
More on problems on elderly care and working conditions at Lazard's Atria Senior Living. »