Posts tagged home-care workers
UR home care workers are planning a one-day strike. Here’s why
February 24, 2025 // Last week, 1199SEIU issued a 10-day notice for an unfair labor practice strike on behalf of University of Rochester Medicine Home Care workers. A one-day strike is now planned. Since May 2024, professional and clinical home care workers have been negotiating their first union contract.
Fearing AI will take their jobs, California workers plan a long battle against tech
January 19, 2025 // More than 200 trade union members and technologists gathered in Sacramento this week at a first-of-its-kind conference to discuss how AI and other tech threatens workers and to strategize for upcoming fights and possible strikes. The Making Tech Work for Workers event was convened by University of California labor centers, unions, and worker advocates and attracted people representing dock workers, home care workers, teachers, nurses, actors, state office workers, and many other occupations.
Michigan passes bills allowing home care workers to unionize
September 30, 2024 // “We know that more and more Michiganders are going to need care, that number is not going to go down, they should have access to adequate care and it’s about building a union but it’s also about making sure that every single person in the state of Michigan has the care they deserve and the care that they need,” said Menz. The bills are now waiting for Governor Gretchen Whitmer to officially sign them into law. Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt said in a statement sent to News 10: “These bills only further grow the size of the government while simultaneously shrinking the available resources meant to help those in need.”
SEIU celebrates $16 home care worker minimum wage, readies to lobby for $20
June 5, 2024 // The union in recent years has pushed to increase pay rates for the workforce whose average wage had hovered around $11 for nearly a decade. Last year, Nevada state lawmakers passed a bill establishing a $16 an hour minimum wage for home care workers. “Sixteen is great,” said Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy, a former SEIU organizer who spoke at the event Thursday. “It shows the power of collective mobilization. But I think that we are going to do a little bit better next legislative session.” An increase to $20 per hour for home care workers would be possible by adjusting the Medicaid reimbursement rate for the employers who provide home care services to $30 per hour.
New Law Redefines Employees and Contractors
March 7, 2024 // Data suggest worker misclassification may be the exception rather than the rule in many industries. Surveys consistently show that most independent contractors prefer their independence. Around 79% of them prefer their arrangement over a traditional job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while fewer than one in 10 contractors want a traditional work arrangement. "Since a lot of older Americans do seek out these flexible forms of work as they near retirement — or after — this rule will likely lead to reduced work opportunities for them." Implemented in 2020 when acting U.S. Labor Secretary Su was California's labor commissioner, California's Assembly Bill 5, or AB5, similarly set out to protect workers by getting more people on the payrolls. But many Californians working as legitimate contractors suddenly lost income after businesses and nonprofits stopped working with them as freelancers and didn't hire them as employees.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS ADVANCE SEIU BILL IN OREGON KNOWING IT WOULD STRIP CAREGIVERS OF THEIR RIGHTS
February 29, 2024 // Specifically, Oregon’s HB 4129 would require the state to contract with up to two private vendors to administer part of the state’s Medicaid-funded homecare program. By doing so, it would create a new employment model governed by private-sector labor law, under which caregivers would lose their protections under the Harris ruling. SEIU 503 is the union purporting to represent Medicaid-compensated homecare workers in Oregon, and it’s has taken a big hit since Harris.
SEIU intervenes in Wisconsin nurse unionization dispute
December 6, 2022 // Though SEIU cannot officially represent them, the union negotiated on behalf of UW Health nurses during the strike threat. The union gained concessions from UW Health and state lawmakers, ending the strike before it happened and paving the way for future unionization. The contradictions and various legal opinions surrounding this case suggest that WERC’s ruling will be appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. A UW Health spokesperson said that the hospital will seek additional legal opinion on the issue, “We believe that an expedited decision on these important legal issues will best allow us to move forward, which is why we are petitioning the Wisconsin Supreme Court for an opinion on these questions.” WERC’s ruling is a temporary legal setback, but all signs point to further legal challenges to state laws on collective bargaining.
Opinion: States should protect caregivers’ Medicaid funds from union skims
June 27, 2022 // Yet, while a number of states including Michigan have taken action to prohibit the dues skim, a May rule by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reversed a Trump administration effort to stop the skim nationally. A separate 9th Circuit decision last week also continues to allow unions to trap home care providers into paying them. Robert and Patricia Haynes, cerebral palsy, Gov. Rick Snyder, Harris v. Quinn, Cindy Ochoa, most pro-union president ever,
Health-Care Strike Risk Runs High as Hundreds of Labor Deals End
January 26, 2022 // At least 207,000 health-care workers are covered by the more than 400 labor agreements set to expire this year, according to an analysis of federal disclosures and contract settlement data compiled by Bloomberg Law.
BIDEN DOUBLES DOWN ON ILLEGAL MEDICAID PAYMENTS TO UNIONS
November 16, 2021 // After promising to be history’s most pro-union president, it’s no surprise Biden’s administration is again attempting to ignore federal law and preserve a coercive practice that harms the nation’s home care workforce while enriching a far-Left special interest group. But’s it’s still disappointing and shameful.