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Additional information regarding the internal dispute in SEIU referred to by socraticgadfly's post:
Sal Rosselli's United Healthcare West is leading a rank and file movement of SEIU members against the pro-corporate sell-out anti-worker anti-democratic policies of the dictatorial arrogant megalomaniac Andy Stern.
see the websites
www.seiuvoice.org
&
www.reformseiu.orgfor more details
also see Assoc. for Union Democracy piece
at
http://bensonsudblog.blogspot.com/Posted at February 23, 2008 8:19 PM in response to Long-Range Vision of the Labor Movement
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One more thing -- the local ordinances and state legislation that created the legal framework for establishing collective bargaining for home care workers was not simply the result of back-door political deals. There were massive protests by home care workers, marching on county boards, and marching on state capitols for years and years. The biggest protests were in Los Angeles during the SEIU campaign.
During the campaign I was on in San Diego, the county board dragged its feet in complying with the new state law and only move to adopt an ordinance after home care workers and clients mobilized at several county commissions and held a march through downtown San Diego.
I was only in California for about seven months, several years ago. The San Diego campaign to establish a home care public authority was very intense and one of the most memorable campaigns I have participated in.Posted at July 30, 2005 11:16 PM in response to "Womens work" not "really" work
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Some home care workers are family members of the clients, others are not. I know a lot about this subject because I was part of the staff of the AFSCME home care campaign in San Diego where the workers were first organized in 2001. I did the communications for the campaign, and spent hundreds of hours talking to home care workers and observing them with their clients.
In San Diego county at that time, about 50 percent of the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) workers were related to clients. Whether or not the workers are related to the clients, this is public services work. IHSS is funded by a mixture of federal, state and county money. Government funds in-home care because it is a lot cheaper than putting indigent people into nursing homes, and paying for their care that way. Given the high costs of taking care of someone who is severely disabled, families are forced to choose between institutionalization or home care. In-Home care saves the taxpayers money, lots of money.
For decades the government claimed that the workers were "independent contractors" and that their employer was the client -- even if the client had Alzheimers or some other mentally incapacitating illness, and didn't know he/she was an "employer."
This was simply a way for the government to avoid the issue of pay and benefits for these workers. The checks came from the state government. These workers are public employees in reality, always have been. What the unions have done is made the state take legal responsibility for what is the reality.
The clients are mostly severely disabled children and elderly. In many cases, they require 24/7 care. IHSS workers who are family members are often paid for only a small fraction of the time they actually spend doing the care (number of hours of care assigned to each client are determined by county social workers). IHSS workers who are not related often bond emotionally with their clients and their families, and also generally work more hours than they are paid for.
Prior to unionization, this work was done at minimum wage, and there was no health insurance, no vacation days, no sick days, no respite help. Many home care workers who are family had successful careers and businesses but had to give those up because no one else was available to care for mom, dad, granddad, grandmother, or child.
People who scorn these workers ought to think about the possiblility that they will suffer accidental trauma or a debilitating illness that requires constant care.
I work for SEIU now. SEIU pioneered the efforts to organize home care workers, starting in Los Angeles. Bringing some degree of dignity and respect to these workers is one of the best things the labor movement has ever done.
Home care workers are the most decent caring folks you can imagine, working an incredibly difficult job, which is often more difficult than any regular job. Definitely more difficult than writing sexist, racist, anti-labor crap for Slate.
Posted at July 30, 2005 10:58 PM in response to "Womens work" not "really" work
