(NEW YORK CITY) - Faced with rising costs and struggling to make ends meet, nearly 70,000 Caregivers in New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) - most of whom care for relatives, have filed for a Union Election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), seeking representation with 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU) United Healthcare Workers East.

If the vote is successful, nearly 190,000 Caregivers across New York State would win representation in the largest Union Election in U.S. History.

The CDPAP Caregivers, who give older adults and people with disabilities who qualify for Medicaid and need assistance at home the ability to choose, train and direct their own Caregivers, would be united with 450,000 other Health Care Workers in 1199 SEIU (Service Employees International Union), giving them a strong voice to advocate for higher pay and improvements to care as demand for care skyrockets and Medicaid - which funds CDPAP - is under attack.

Under Federal Labor Law, the NLRB must hold an election for Union Representation once 30% of Workers in a Bargaining Unit sign Union Authorization Cards, a benchmark surpassed by the Caregivers who are organizing. 

According to a survey conducted by 1199 SEIU of more than 31,000 of the CDPAP Workers who signed Union Cards, nearly 64% reported they were just getting by or finding it difficult to get by financially over the past year, 62% said the hardest part of being a Caregiver was not getting paid enough to make ends meet, and 66% said the most important thing in a Union contract for them was higher pay. 

America is in the midst of a caregiving crisis as an estimated 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 every day in the United States until 2030 and millions more families will need support to help their loved ones live safely and independently at home.

For generations that work has been provided disproportionately by Women and family members, largely out of public view, whose labor has too often been treated as less than real work.

New projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimate America will need nearly 850,000 more Home Care Workers by 2035 as the aging population explodes in size, more new jobs than any other occupation in the United States.

Now, across every corner of New York, CDPAP Caregivers who enable parents, grandparents, siblings, children, friends and neighbors with disabilities to live safely and independently in their own homes, are coming together to assert that their work has value. 

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East President Yvonne Armstrong said: “These are Essential Workers doing work families cannot live without, yet they are struggling to put food on their own tables. They are watching the cost of groceries, rent, gas, and health care climb while their pay falls behind. Someone who is a lifeline for another person should not have to choose which bill goes unpaid, or question whether they can afford to keep doing this work. Programs like CDPAP cannot be a sustainable answer to our care crisis if the Workers providing that care cannot sustain themselves. Caregivers are organizing because they are ready to change that. They are ready to fight for the wages, benefits and economic security they deserve, and they are demanding a voice in shaping the future of care work. What they are building in New York can set a new standard for how we view care and the people who provide it across this country.”

The scale of the organizing drive is something the country hasn’t seen in decades.

The 70,000 Workers who’ve signed cards to trigger the NLRB election is an unprecedented show of support for Union representation.

The closest historical parallels are the mass Organizing Drives that took place in America’s Auto Industry, the largest being 137,000 Workers at General Motors who voted to form their Union in 1940, and 80,000 Workers at Ford who followed suit in 1941.

The largest election in modern U.S. History was in 1999, when 74,000 Los Angeles County Home Care Workers voted to form their Union with SEIU. 

National AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said: “Caregiving is one of the most important jobs in our economy. This is deeply human work that cannot be automated away. Caregivers make it possible for older adults and people with disabilities to live with dignity and independence, yet too often the people doing this essential work have little say in the decisions that shape their jobs and their futures. Caregivers have a fundamental right to organize. They deserve the same thing every Worker deserves: A collective voice and the power to fight for a better future for themselves, their families and the people who depend on them.”

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest Health Care Union in the Nation, representing more than 450,000 Health Care Workers, with Members working in hospitals, nursing homes, home care and other health care settings.

In New York State alone, 75,000 Home Care and CDPAP Workers have come together to successfully raise wages and negotiate Union contracts under 1199 SEIU.

In 2022, 1199 SEIU Home Care Members advocated in Albany for additional Medicaid funding and won a wage increase of $3 per hour above the minimum wage for New York Home Care Workers.

1199 SEIU-Provided Photo.