Mass. lawmakers approve measure allowing more home health care workers to unionize

Thousands of home health care workers in Massachusetts are newly eligible to organize and join a union under legislation passed by the state legislature this week.

Union officials estimate the change will allow some 4,000 home health care workers to unionize. About 58,000 personal care attendants paid by MassHealth are already unionized and represented by SEIU 1199.

"It's a significant step forward for this group of workers who have really been left behind," said Rebecca Gutman, vice president for home care with SEIU 1199 United Healthcare Workers East.

The language clarifying that the in-home caregivers should be considered public employees was tucked into the state's roughly $3.1 billion supplemental budget, which was held up for weeks as House and Senate Democrats fought over money for the state family shelter system.

Home health care workers provide personal care in people's homes, mainly for older adults. Some workers are family members, who in Massachusetts are eligible to get paid to care for their ailing relatives.

It's an often grueling job, with relatively low pay and few worker protections.

"They're facing low wages, not enough paid time off, they're having pay issues, and they have nowhere to go when they're not getting paid the correct amount," Gutman said.

Luz E. Echeverry is a home health worker in Lawrence. She provides care for her mother, whom she says has Parkinson's disease and diabetes, and her father, who is recovering from open heart surgery.

"I'd like to be an organizer to help people get better benefits and better things for their job," Echeverry said in an interview. "I'm very excited."

Echeverry said she wants to push for better wages, more paid holidays and money for professional trainings.

Labor experts say home care workers are some of the most vulnerable in the national workforce. A recent study from the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute found nine in 10 are women, and 62% are people of color. Roughly half do not have formal education after high school.

The unionization language in the supplemental budget is a major policy win for the labor movement in Massachusetts. The last time a new group of workers gained the right to unionize was over a decade ago, with legislation that allowed child care workers to organize and collectively bargain.

The fact the change in state law was wrapped up in a large budget package is not unusual. The legislature often packages unrelated policy items into sweeping budget bills to pass a number of priorities at once.

Labor organizers said they've already been hearing from home care workers like Echeverry interested in starting the organizing process.

These workers are "helping elders live full, independent lives with dignity," Gutman said. "We need to make sure that the workers who are providing that care are also treated with dignity and respect themselves."