NEWS & LETTERS, June - July 2009
SEIU shafts home healthcare workers
Seattle, Wash.--Those of us who work at home in Washington state caring for a relative with special needs are being forced to change who we work for or lose our jobs.
We are paid for a certain amount of hours per month to keep our special needs family member in our home and care for them. This is paid through the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). We also get health insurance. Most of us are employed by a Home Care agency.
Substitute House Bill (SHB) 2361, which recently passed, is forcing us to become Individual Providers, contracted with the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). This means we can no longer be employed by a Home Care agency and are required to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
DDD pays $2.50 less an hour than what we currently make. For most of us with over 250 caregiving hours, that is a loss of over $500 per month. We are also required to give up our current health insurance plan and use the one the union offers. This plan is inferior to our current one. We will have to put out extra money for what the new policy does not cover. Add to that the union dues we have to pay, and most families are losing well over $500 per month.
The other option is to give up our jobs and hire a stranger to take care of our family member. No one should have to make that choice. I resent being forced to join the union when it means lower pay and bad health insurance. The agencies are fighting to change SHB 2361, as they stand to lose over half their employees.
The state is trying to save money on the backs of people who need it to take care of themselves and be able to care for their family member with special needs. Many people with a disabled family member in the house can't work full time because of constant clinic appointments and the in-home care their relatives need.This is going to really hurt us. Some will have to put their family member in a nursing home or some other facility because of the loss of pay to take care of them. This program was originally designed to keep that from happening.
What kind of a union requires its incoming members to take a pay cut? The union is just a smoke screen for these cuts. Why doesn't DDD pay at least the same as the Home Care agencies?
--Suzanne Rose
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