New Film Exposes Bruce Wasserstein and Lazard-linked Elderly Care Facilities Exploiting Seniors

New Film Exposes Bruce Wasserstein and Lazard-linked Elderly Care Facilities Exploiting Seniors

ACTION: Activists took to streets for "Rolling matinee" throughout U.S. to debut film targeting Lazard CEO

NEW YORK, July 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Workers and residents from controversial assisted living provider Atria Senior Living joined members of the Service Employees International Union Thursday in a "rolling matinee" to debut a new film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films about Atria's mistreatment of its workers and elderly tenants.

   (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080711/DC27354-a     Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080711/DC27354-b     Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080711/DC27354LOGO-c )   

The film, "Gouging Grandma," follows Lazard Ltd's billionaire CEO Bruce Wasserstein from New York to Bermuda as he tries to escape responsibility for problems at Atria. Atria is owned by a Lazard-affiliated private equity fund.

"Lazard can pay its principals princely sums while its affiliates treat the most vulnerable among us this way?" asked Robert Greenwald, founder of Brave New Films. "Not in my book: Wasserstein needs to be called to the mat for his indifference to how cost-cutting hurts Atria residents and workers."

In New York City, activists staged a premier of the film on mobile flat-screen televisions outside Lazard's offices at Rockefeller Plaza, handing out movie tickets and free candy to the lunch-time crowds. They also hit Wasserstein's home at 927 5th Ave. later in the day, spreading the word among the city's elite. Simultaneous actions occurred in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston at Lazard offices.

The video is available at www.ImproveAssistedLiving.org.

SEIU also launched an online campaign this week, placing Web ads on some of the world's largest news sites highlighting Atria's gouging of its elderly residents. The ads are also available at www.ImproveAssistedLiving.org.

With 2 million members, SEIU (Service Employees International Union) is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. SEIU is America's largest union of healthcare and property services workers, and is the second largest union of public services workers. SEIU is a longtime advocate of responsible corporate governance practices and an active member of the Council of Institutional Investors, an organization of more than 130 pension funds whose assets exceed $3 trillion.

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Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080711/DC27354
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080711/DC27354-a
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080711/DC27354-b
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080711/DC27354LOGO-c
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
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Source: Service Employees International Union

CONTACT: Evan Thies, +1-917-715-9265, or Jennifer Kelly,
+1-213-401-3321, both of Service Employees International Union

Web Site: http://www.improveassistedliving.org/
http://www.seiu.org/

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Profile: International Entertainment