Why 35,000 Michigan caregivers are fighting for two pro-union bills

Phyllis Pride has seen a lot in her 15 years as a caregiver for the elderly and disabled: meals, medications, laundry, and showers. But there’s one thing the 67-year-old from Ecorse, outside Detroit, has not seen: a raise. In fact, Pride says her hourly wages have dropped from $13.50 in 2010 to $13.25 today. Adjusted for inflation, it’s a drop of 32%. “I don’t get overtime pay, I don’t get paid time off, none of it,” said Pride, who belongs to Michigan Home Care Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.  That’s part of why Pride is pushing state legislators to pass two pro-union bills. One bill would formalize standards for the profession. The other enables workers in Michigan’s Home Help Program to collectively bargain for wages, benefits, and training statewide.  With passage, Michigan’s homecare workers could soon file for the state’s largest union election—by a factor of more than 100—since Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s repeal of a right-to-work statute took effect in mid-February. They’d also add to a growing trend of lawmakers and voters rejecting anti-union legislation.  Supporters say the two bills, Senate Bills 790 and 791, will address multiple concerns for the 35,000 Home Help workers in the state. Many care for family members, often giving up regular jobs to care for loved ones. They get no benefits and today earn a base rate of $13.53—well below the $20.28 living wage required for a single, childless adult. They also hope the two bills will reverse anti-union policies passed under former Gov. Rick Snyder.  Senate Bill 790, introduced by state Sen. Kevin Hertel (D), would create the Home Help Caregiver Council. This state authority would set standards, monitor work conditions, and unify the practice of homecare work across the state’s 83 counties.  Meanwhile, Senate Bill 791, sponsored by state Sen. Sylvia Santana (D), would reinstate Home Help workers as state employees, enabling a statewide union. That would be a reversal of an April 2012 Republican reclassification of the state’s then-42,000 Home Help workers as private employees. The change made it difficult for caregivers, many of whom work directly for a single client, to advocate for better conditions and effectively disbanded the union. In its wake, wages barely budged and SEIU Healthcare membership in Michigan plummeted by 84%. (Disclosure: SEIU is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.) Both bills are important, said Zac Altefogt, campaign coordinator for Michigan Home Care Workers United. Adding workers and improving jobs “is not achievable unless we fix the sustainability problems in the workforce, which is low pay, no benefits, no respite care . . . and no access to training,” said Altefogt. He added that the legislation could also address wage inequality given that those who work in the field tend to be female, older, and racially diverse.  Critics of the legislation argue it’s unnecessary, and point out that voters rejected a similar proposal in 2012. “The Legislature right now, without a union, can increase these people’s pay,” said Patrick Wright of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a “free market” think tank that pushed for the 2012 declassification.  The effort builds on recent reversals of anti-union legislation in Michigan and elsewhere. Last year, Gov. Whitmer made Michigan the first state in nearly 60 years to repeal a “right to work” law. (Twenty-six states still have such laws in place.) The change meant that any worker represented by a union pays dues. Whitmer also signed legislation that restored and expanded bargaining rights for public school teachers.  “Michigan’s in the process right now of reversing a lot of damage that was done to its state labor laws, and you could foresee that they might join some other states who have begun to get more ambitious,” said Jennifer Sherer, acting deputy director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network. Sherer said the Michigan bills reflect a broader trend across states including Montana, Missouri, Illinois, and New Hampshire, where lawmakers and residents have voted down right-to-work legislation and ballot initiatives. Homecare workers and SEIU, meanwhile, are trying to turn up the pressure. Since March, SEIU has organized workers to knock on doors and urge lawmakers to pass the bills. In early September, the union organized a three-day campout on the Michigan State Capitol lawn. Michael Ewing, a 38-year-old homecare aide in Grand Rapids, was at the demonstration. In 2014, he said, he left a job in food service to care for his mother under the Home Help program. Now he takes care of three clients to financially support himself and his family.  “There was a point in my life where I couldn’t afford my daughter’s Pull-Ups,” he said. “We all know business and money ain’t never fair, but being able to just have a union that will represent you the right way . . . you can’t turn your h