News

27,000 home care workers are united in SEIU Healthcare Minnesota after years of fighting for a voice on the job. On August 26th, home care workers, their clients and families celebrated an overwhelming victory.

"Despite every obstacle put in our way, we stuck to our promise to keep fighting until we were able to exercise our democratic right to let home care workers decide for themselves whether to form a union," said Sumer Spika, a home care worker from St. Paul. "When given the right to decide for ourselves, home care workers clearly are ready for change and with our union will have a unified voice to fight for better conditions for ourselves and better care for those we serve."

The Bureau of Mediation Services tallied the votes earlier in the day and certified that workers voted decisively join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Minnesota.

Victorious home care workers announced the results during a press conference at the Minnesota State Fair. They shared their joy over the results and committed to continue fighting for a better home care system for all Minnesotans.

"This union has the power to change the lives of thousands of Minnesota families for the better," said Yankuba Fadera, a home care worker from Maplewood. 

"Home care work is real and important work. Both workers and the people we serve deserve better, and winning our union and having a collective voice is a huge step toward getting a contract that makes these improvements a reality. Today, after exercising our democratic right to vote for our union, we are showing how true the statement 'When We Fight, We Win' can be for workers in Minnesota."

Today's victory comes less than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Illinois home care workers are not entitled to the same rights as other public employees. The ruling has not slowed home care workers from joining together in Minnesota, or in states like Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Washington, DC - where thousands of working families have rallied to call attention to how poverty wages are holding back Americans, destabilizing communities and our economy.

With this vote, Minnesota home care workers join other working women and men across the country in the fastest-growing service sector jobs - hospital workers, airport workers, fast food workers, retail workers - who are standing up to call attention to the need to raise wages and rebalance our economy.

Read the press release on SEIU.org here.