Local 771 Meeting

Local 771 is having a meeting on Saturday, March 21st at 12:30 pm at MSEA-SEIU Headquarters in Augusta. The location is 65 State Street. The meeting is in the Board Room. Lunch is provided. At this meeting, we'll be discussing both bargaining units, Alpha One and Home Care for Maine. We'll be discussing the upcoming legislation that pertains to long-term care in Maine and the workers providing that care. We will be talking about SEIU's Change that Works campaign around health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act. There's also a couple of groups that 771 is discussing joining. One is Consumers for Affordable Health Care. We tabled this agenda item until this meeting. We had reached a consensus to join Consumers for Affordable Health Care, but there was a question of Kids First, MSEA's Family Child Care Providers Union, joining CAHC with 771. The other group 771 is considering joining is the National Direct Care Partnership, a coalition sponsored by the Direct Care Alliance. This partnership is tackling the issues of this workforce at the national level. Talking with our Congressional Delegation about direct care work is very important. Insurance Superintendent Mila Kofman made that recommendation to the Direct Care Worker Coalition last summer. She said that we should also be working on gaining health insurance for DCWs at the national level. I agree. That is why this is on the agenda for Saturday's meeting. This meeting is very important if you've got something you want to see in either contract. Both units, Alpha One and Home Care for Maine, have contracts that will be opening for negotiation later this year. You want something in the contract, come to this meeting and let us know what it is.