Taken from SEIU Ultcw | United Long Term Care Workers: Check out these actions shots, received from Dina Lopez and Lesia Louro, of ULTCW Member Leaders working tirelessly to bring Dignity to caregivers and consumers all across the State of Minnesota! Because of difficult work, limited access to training, and low wages, homecare work in Minnesota has had a history of high turnover. Pay is so low that many caregivers qualify for food stamps. They dont receive paid sick leave or health or retirement benefits. Caregivers are hoping to change this trajectory for 26,000 homecare workers by calling for the largest union election in Minnesota history. With support from their consumers, Minnesota homecare workers officially filed representation election cards in early July to unionize. Organizing under the slogan, Invisible No More, workers want to improve pay, working conditions, and improve care for consumers. Caregivers seek representation by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, a statewide Service Employees local. They filed cards signed by more than 9,000 homecare workers, triggering the process for a vote. Organizers expect the election to take place in August. According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, it’s estimated that 29 percent of baby boomers will retire with insufficient resources. A lack of homecare workers will turn out to be a greater and greater problem as the elderly population steadily grows. The Minnesota Department of Human Services predicts that 25 percent of the population in Minnesota will be over the age of 65 by 2031, which means that the urgency of meeting the demand to retain and recruit homecare workers will only continue to grow. Minnesotas Bureau of Mediation Services will conduct a mail ballot election among the states 26,000 home care workers, making it the largest single union vote in state history. Making sure that all those who are eligible to vote get a chance to cast their ballots is a difficult process. Since homecare workers dont all work in the same geographic location, and since votes cannot be recorded electronically, the only way to really make sure caregivers received their ballots and have all the information they need to vote, is to go from door to door, from one-on-one conversation to one-on-one conversation. This is a labor intensive people powered process. Without even having to ask, our brothers and sisters in Minnesota received offers from ULTCW Member Leaders to travel the many miles from California it took to join them in the field until the election!
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 23:23:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015