Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Answers to Comments of Article in Kennebec Journal, Dec. 16, 2007

This comes from a post at UnionMaine's blog: http://www.unionmaine.blogspot.com/ (Thanks Tom -Helen) These are excerpts from comments on a KJ article http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/4566516.html?com_sent=1 referring to Local 771. Do you know how 771 got the name? Before they joined the Union they made $7.71 cents an hour, no guaranteed wages, no regular schedule, no sick days, no, vacations, no way to get a raise or anything else. They are far from rich and they are still fighting for benefits but they are better now and they have hope, something they never had before. They take care of the elderly, with personal care that can mean cleaning, feeding or being a voice of comfort to the elderly and the sick and they made $7.71 cents an hour showing that our children and our parents were worth less to the companies than burger flipping. Even Wal-Mart has a health care plan, a lousy one, but a plan. 771 members deserve respect for their work, not abuse from people that have no idea what they are talking about. Let worker raises be determined by merit”… Answer. The top athletes in sports belong to Unions because management will always try to increase profit at the cost of the employee regardless of your “merit”. (You pay) “You are not entitled to any union benefits” Answer. Except the pay, working conditions and benefits negotiated by a Union. Statement. (Fair Share) “(a clause made AFTER you were hired, which effectively changes your terms of employment)” and “They changed my working conditions.” Answer. You joined or stayed with a Union shop knowing that contracts can change. The contract changed. Did you refuse any benefits or wage increases? Statement. “it's win-win for everyone but YOU” Answer. Better pay, benefits and working conditions. A win for the employee and for the employer. Statement. It’s like being drafted”. Answer. You are not joining the Union; you are just paying your fair share. Statement. It is too easy for poor performers to hide The Answer is another quote: Poor performers can be dealt with under any union contract. They all contain disciplinary procedures that prevent arbitrary, capricious, and discriminatory practices with regard to discipline. (Which is why most management hates Unions. They want to be able to fire you for any reason regardless of your “merit”. Statement. But, they are required to pay for the representation they receive. …whether they want it or not. Answer. It is the law, form a Union (political party) and change it. With an $111,000,000 deficit the only way we can protect what we have, never mind make headway is to realize that politicians are sensitive to votes. You can find your legislator in the column on the left. Write your representatives now and ask them if they will protect your health care and work to see that you get a fair contract. Tell them you do not want a raise you only want enough money to be Equal To Inflation. E.T.I. 2009 if applied fairly would only pay back the pay cuts we have all taken from the legislature. Cuts taken with the promise of keeping our benefits. Remind your legislator that you have already paid for your benefits. Paid in advance.

Monday, December 17, 2007

State Union Rolls Soaring

Susan Cover, Staff Writer, Kennebec Journal, December 16, 2007 AUGUSTA -- Helen Hanson of South China didn't want to join the Maine State Employees Association -- at first. As a direct care worker who helps consumers bathe, dress, and cook, she didn't think the state employees union would know how to help her. "I thought this particular union, MSEA, honestly, there's no way they can help us," she said. "Their issues are so different than ours." But she eventually changed her mind, and once they had their first contract in place in August, she started to see the difference. "When I got my pay that reflected the raise we got, I patted myself on the shoulder and said we did it," she said. Hanson, president of the direct care worker unit, is one of 450 employees of Home Care for Maine who voted this year to join the workers union. They represent a portion of more than 3,000 Maine workers who have voted within the last 14 months to join the union, making this the union's most active membership drive since it formed in 1943. At the national level, Maine is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, which represents 1.9 million workers across the country, in Canada and in Puerto Rico. Maine's growth is part of a larger national effort to unionize workers, said MSEA Executive Director Tim Belcher. "Those victories make us, by one count, the fastest-growing local union in the SEIU and the SEIU is the fastest-growing union nationally," he said. The SEIU -- which focuses on workers in hospital systems, long-term care, property services and the public sector -- is one of the unions that has been effective nationally in organizing service sector workers and those who work in the health care industry, said Dan Cornfield, a labor union expert and professor at Vanderbilt University. "The particular health care sector, broadly defined, the sector that provides vital family services, is an important part of the future of the labor movement," he said. Cornfield said organized labor is still trying to recover from post World War II losses in the manufacturing industry, the traditional stronghold of labor unions. More aggressive modern unions are targeting low-paid workers and are shifting away from political activity, he said. "They are often low paid, they may lack health insurance, many of the workers are women and minorities who often feel the sense of being disadvantaged at a higher level than white men might," he said. For the MSEA, the growth comes during a 21/2 year period in which some state workers sued the union because of a provision added to the state workers contract in 2005. Known as the fair share provision, the contract required all state workers to join the union, or pay a portion of union dues, or face the prospect of being fired from their jobs. A state law passed earlier this year no longer allows the workers to be fired, but does give the state the power to automatically withdraw the nonmember union dues from state workers' paychecks. Just last week, an arbitrator ruled that the union did properly calculate nonmember dues, despite a challenge from about 80 state workers. Belcher said the arbitration and lawsuits filed in federal court, most of which are over, represent part of the past that he's already put behind him. Despite the anger from those who didn't want to be required to support the union, Belcher said many other workers are seeking union representation to help them with wages and benefits. "We have a situation where there's been an incredible increase in productivity, and in the past that's been passed on to workers and that's just not happening," he said. "Real wages are stagnant while productivity is up." Those who have voted to be represented by the union won't officially become members until they have contracts in place. As it is now, the union has 12,000 members, including retirees. When you add people who are awaiting contracts and those who are represented by the union but are not full union members, the number grows to more than 15,000. As the union moves forward, it will need to continue to grow beyond a state workers union if it wants to add members. Belcher said there were substantially more state workers represented by the union years ago, but that hiring freezes have eaten away at that core group. For Hanson, the power of union membership is evident not only in her paycheck, but in the halls of the Statehouse. She said while testifying on a bill wearing a purple union sticker, lawmakers took notice. "I thought, wow, this union does have influence with the Legislature," she said. "That helped, seeing the union in action."

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Direct Care Workers in Massachusetts join SEIU

Home health assistants vote to join union Overwhelming 'yes' gives momentum, strength to SEIU By Jeffrey Krasner Globe Staff / The Boston Globe/November 9, 2007 (This article was submitted to me by a fellow union member from the Penobscot Chapter of MSEA-SEIU. Thanks Tom! -Helen) Thousands of home health assistants in Massachusetts overwhelmingly voted to join the powerful Service Employees International Union, giving the union strong momentum as it moves toward its larger goal of attempting to organize about 55,000 workers at Boston's teaching hospitals. The vote comes at a time when union membership nationwide continues a decadeslong decline. SEIU has been able to buck that trend, partly by emphasizing ways to improve workers' career development, not just immediate improvements in wages and benefits, said Thomas A. Kochan, professor of management at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. "This victory is a big boost and a basis for saying they're going to be a more significant player in the healthcare industry," Kochan said. "SEIU has a vision of being the preeminent healthcare union and seeing their members as people who should have opportunities to move up and develop their skills and capabilities." Officials from 1199SEIU, which claims to be the largest union local in the world with more than 300,000 members, said the vote will help its hospital organizing efforts. "SEIU Healthcare is growing all over the nation," said Dennis Rivera, chairman of the healthcare arm of the union. "With this win, we'll have more than 34,000 members in Massachusetts. That will be a boost to us to do the political and organizing work, and we'll have more resources." After the voting results were made public yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino reiterated his earlier support for the union's plan to organize teaching hospital workers. "I'll always stand with SEIU because they fight for the people in our society who need somebody on their side - the personal care assistants, the janitors, the hotel workers," Menino said. Paul Levy, chief executive of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, has said he doesn't believe the organizing effort will help the hospital provide better care or improve its research and teaching. Officials from other Boston hospitals have not commented publicly on SEIU's campaign. A law passed last year - sponsored by state Senator Steven A. Tolman, Democrat of Brighton - enabled the healthcare workers to vote on union membership through a mail-in ballot. About 22,000 ballots were mailed several weeks ago. The returned ballots included 6,135 votes to unionize and 135 opposing the move. Jeff Hall, a spokesman for SEIU, said about 5,000 addresses may have been incorrect, partially accounting for the low vote total, but the percentage of returned ballots was still high, he said. Home health assistants are hired by individual patients or family members, and provide such services as bathing, feeding, and cooking. They are paid directly by the state's Medicaid program, Mass Health. Union officials said they are assembling a bargaining committee, which will set priorities for wage and benefit negotiations with the state. Current pay for the attendants is $10.84 an hour with no healthcare benefits. In organizing the home health assistants, SEIU focused on issues that transcended wages and benefits. For example, it highlighted the growing need for healthcare attendants as the population ages, and the possibility that home care could help the state save money by keeping residents out of expensive nursing homes. "It was the labor movement that recognized a social problem in our society," said Tolman, "and it was the labor movement that proposed a solution." SEIU has also called attention to the rules surrounding union organizing. Procedures established by the National Labor Relations Act generally give management opportunities to delay a final vote. That works against most organizing efforts, said Jeff Toner, a consultant who provides communication services to unions and management. "In organizing, time is the enemy of the union and the friend of management," he said. "It gives management more time to tell their side of the story." In its early efforts to organize Boston's teaching hospitals, SEIU has sought to put in place what it calls "free and fair" election rules. Such rules would prohibit management from taking a public position on the unionizing effort, and could greatly speed union votes by allowing prospective members to use cards to indicate their support. Mike Fadel, executive vice president of 1199SEIU, said the success of the mail-in voting by home care assistants shows that "healthcare workers expect to be able to vote in a free and fair election." Overall union membership in the United States has dropped from about 35 percent of the workforce in the 1950s to 12 percent in 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2006, about 15.4 million workers were union members. "SEIU is an alternative model for union organizing," said Daniel F. Jacoby, chair of the Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington. "They seem to be able to work in different modes, sometimes working directly with business to create agreements that make it easier to organize."

Monday, November 19, 2007

Dues Error for Home Care for Maine Workers

Last week, a problem was discovered with the fair share paid by Home Care for Maine direct care workers who chose to not join the union. What happened was a miscommunication that ended up with fair share payers paying the fair share of full-time workers when they are only working part-time. The error is being corrected. Union headquarters is sending out a letter explaining the error and how it will be corrected. When you receive this mailing, fill out the pink application card, choose to join or become a service fee payer and make sure to fill in the amount of hours you work per week. This determines the amount of dues you pay. If you work full time and join MSEA-SEIU, your dues will be $18.20 per pay period. If you work 16 to 32 hours per week and join, your dues will be $10.92 per pay period. If you work less than 16 hours per week and join, your dues will be $5.46 per pay period. If you work 8 hours or less per week your dues can be waived. You must notifiy MSEA-SEIU if you want to waive your dues. If you choose not to join MSEA-SEIU and work full time, your fair share will be $9.41 per pay period. If you work 16 to 32 hours per week, your fair share will be $5.65 per pay period. If you work 16 to 8 hours per week, your fair share will be $2.82 per pay period. If you work less than 8 hours per week, your fair share can be waived. You must notify MSEA-SEIU if you want to waive your fair share. The reasoning behind the "fair share" service fee is that everyone benefits from what a few accomplish. We all got the base pay raise and the quarterly stipend raise. If we should gain benefits, everyone will get them, not just those who joined MSEA-SEIU. I strongly urge you to join and become a full-fledged member of MSEA-SEIU Chapter 771. We are stronger together. As a member, you can enjoy discounts at retailers, hotels & motels, automotive repair shops, oil dealers, eye care specialists, etc. throughout the state. You also have full voting rights at chapter meetings and on future contracts. You have a stronger voice to make comments and requests. Once you receive the mailer from MSEA, if you've got further questions, please send an email to me or call union headquarters. As I know more about this, I will post it.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

771 Officers and Delegates to MSEA-SEIU's 2007 Convention

from left to right
Denise Adams, Delegate; Janet (Dixie) Lewis, Delegate;
Dean Conway, Delegate; Joe Berry, Vice-President, Delegate;
Helen Hanson, President; CarolAnn Cammack, Secretary, Delegate
absent Leslie Hickey, Treasurer, Delegate

Chapter 771 Receives a Warm Welcome

At MSEA-SEIU’s annual convention, Chapter 771 received a warm welcome from fellow union brothers and sisters. Chapter 771 also received a lot of support. Chapter 771 is brand new to MSEA-SEIU Local 1989. Chapter 771 was first organized with Alpha-One workers about two years ago. Last year, Home Care for Maine workers voted to unionize. A contract for Home Care for Maine was negotiated and passed back in August. Chapter 771 is different from other MSEA-SEIU locals in that 771 is made up of PCAs/PSSs (Personal Care Attendants/Personal Support Specialists) that go into a consumer’s home and help them with daily living tasks. Things like personal care to laundry to light housekeeping to doing groceries, running errands and getting to doctors’ appointments. Many of us work independently, work part-time and have no benefits whatsoever. The work we do is very important. We help keep our elders and those with major debilitating diseases out of nursing homes. They would rather be in their own home where they are comfortable. When I first joined the union, the stark difference between us PSSs and state employees was noticable. That difference is still there, but I am feeling much better about 771 being a part of MSEA-SEIU because MSEA-SEIU has a lot of pull and influence with the legislature and various commissions of state government. This is something I saw with my own eyes when I testified before the Department of Health and Human Services Commission in support of an increase in the reimbursement rate for the Homemaker Program back in May of this year. That influence is something that 771 can draw upon to gain better wages, paid sick time and vacations and health benefits. At the very end of convention, after the call to adjourn was voted upon and everyone was leaving the hall, Bruce Hodson, our MSEA-SEIU president-elect, came up to me and welcomed me and 771 aboard. That was something very nice and something that meant a lot to me. I think that Chapter 771 is right where we need to be. MSEA-SEIU has the sway that 771 can use with state government. Most of the funding Alpha-One and Home Care for Maine receives is from DHHS. Those on the DHHS Commission and in the Legislature recoginize our purple. I also want to welcome aboard the Child Care Providers in Maine that voted to unionize. That is great! At convention, Ginette Rivard was elected vice president and Bruce Hodson was elected president. I feel very comfortable with them as our leaders. I do not know too much about Bruce. Ginette has worked with non-profit organizations and has done a lot of political action work. Convention was wonderful. All the welcomes and support that 771 received was fantastic. It eased my reservations about becoming part of MSEA-SEIU. Together, 771 and MSEA-SEIU can achieve good things. Submitted by Helen Hanson, President of Chapter 771

Monday, October 22, 2007

Election Results from Oct. 4, 2007 Meeting

Leslie Hickey of Home Care for Maine was elected as 771's treasurer. CarolAnn Cammack of Home Care for Maine was elected 771's secretary. The following people were elected as delegates to MSEA-SEIU's annual convention: Denise Adams from Home Care for Maine, Joe Berry from Alpha-One, CarolAnn Cammack from Home Care for Maine, Dean Conway from Alpha-One, Leslie Hickey from Home Care for Maine and Janet (Dixie) Lewis from Home Care for Maine.

Welcome Chapter 771 Members

Please use this blog to post questions and concerns you have about your local. I encourage your use of this. What's happening with 771? We're gearing up for MSEA-SEIU's annual convention in Portland at the end of this month. We're working on filling the offices of treasurer and secretary so that we can start up a budget for 771. We are going to be setting up meetings so members can get involved with 771.