(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Forty Home Care Workers employed at Schofield Home Health Care have voted to join 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers East, making it one of the first licensed Home Health Care Agencies in Buffalo to Unionize in Western New York. 

The Home Care Workers at Schofield are among a growing number across Western New York fighting to join a Union for a voice on the job, improvements in wages and benefits - such as training and upgrading, health insurance and pension benefits.

“As a Home Health Care worker, we all deserve to be paid more and be respected by our employers,” Home Health Aide Ashley Borden said.  “We are an essential part of the Health Care System and our clients’ lives.  I know my clients better than their own families sometimes! We are the first and last person that they see most of their days.  By organizing our Union, we can ensure that things are fair for all of us who do this work.”

“I’m so ecstatic that we won our Union and all our efforts have led to this victory,” added Home Health Aide Diana Goudelock.  “I am very excited about ‘having a voice on the job’ and making improvements for our future chapter at work.”

The new Union Members will begin to identify priorities needed in their first contract with the employer, 1199 SEIU Representatives said.

A date to begin contract negotiations is pending.  

Home Health Care Workers, who are typically referred to as Home Health Aides (HHA) or Personal Care Attendants (PCA), provide clients with care and home keeping services that allow people to remain in their homes. 

Home Care Workers often work in low wage often non-benefited positions, while others struggle with irregular hours and travel between multiple work sites, often by bus or ride share service, they added.  

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East - the largest and fastest-growing Health Care Union in the United States whose mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all, represents more than 400,000 nurses and caregivers throughout the States of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Florida, as well as in, Washington, D.C.