Nearly 5,000-members of SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana who work for Help At Home (HAH) will vote on a historic new contract that took more than five months of bargaining to reach.

The agreement includes historic language that will pave the way for thousands more HAH workers across the country to join the union. Help At Home agreed to remain neutral in any organizing campaigns at their offices across the country—giving home care workers the freedom to join the union without interference. Uniting with thousands of Help At Home workers across the country will mean an even stronger voice for us in Illinois.

The agreement also includes:
         •    health insurance for thousands of workers;
         •    a $1.05 per hour raise for home care aides and $1 per hour raise for CNAs , retroactive to July 1;
         •    an increase in mileage reimbursement pay
         •    pay for travel time and public transportation reimbursement;
         •    improvements in vacation and holiday language.

The groundbreaking agreement is only the second home care contract in history that provides national organizing rights. The first such agreement was reached by SEIU with Addus HealthCare, Inc., in 2005.

 "We won this agreement because home care workers stood together and wouldn’t accept anything less than  a contract guaranteeing wage increases, health care and a stronger voice for home care workers across the country. This agreement shows the power of workers who are united to win a fair and just contract for the quality service we deliver to our consumers,” said bargaining committee member Alberta Walker.

Walker said hundreds of members marched on Help At Home offices across the state, communicated with members at paycheck pickups and in-service meetings, filed a lawsuit against the company for not obeying the state’s new minimum wage law, and filed unfair labor policy charges.

“This contract represents progress for hard working home care providers who are the backbone in the delivery of service to some of the most vulnerable citizens of our country – seniors and people with disabilities. I take my hat off to our members who wou ldn’t settle for less than they deserved,” said SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana president Keith Kelleher.

Earlier this year, SEIU Healthcare Illinois members fought for—and won—new funding for home care agencies to raise workers’ wages and provide first-ever healthcare with HB 4144.

Members will be voting by mail ballot to ratify the contract over the next few weeks.