Labor & Employment Law

12,000 Missouri Home Care Workers Win Union

By Mike Hall

More than 12,000 home care workers in Missouri won a voice at work when they voted to join the Missouri Home Care Union, an alliance between AFSCME and SEIU. The mail ballot results were announced May 5.

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee says the victory is “a great day for home care workers and the people they serve.”

Thousands of Missouri families rely on home care workers to help their loved ones live independent lives. We will use our combined voice to fight unnecessary cuts that threaten quality home care services.

Home care workers provide vital services–bathing, cooking, shopping, assistance getting to and from medical appointments and more–that help thousands of Missouri’s elderly and people with disabilities retain their independence, while saving taxpayers millions of dollars annually for the cost of nursing home care.

SEIU Executive Vice President Mary Kay Henry, who also oversees SEIU’s health care division, says the workers’ vote to from a union is

a big step forward for home care workers in Missouri and the people they take care of… [and] is about home care workers gaining a strong new voice about how to provide better care and support for their clients.

Missouri home care attendants join home care workers in more than 10 other states–including California, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Washington–who have united to improve the quality of care available to consumers.

Across the country, home care worker unions have helped establish training programs, started registries to connect consumers with qualified home care workers and won increased funding for home care services while fighting budget cuts that would force thousands of consumers out of home care and into nursing homes.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on May 07, 2010 (boomark / email).