Seniors, people with disabilities, workers, and home care advocates, celebrated the passage of Proposition B, the Quality Home Care Act, on Nov. 4.
The measure (see our Oct. 23 story) passed with 75 percent of the vote and was led by Missourians for Quality Home Care. SEIU Healthcare worked in coalition with consumers, disability and senior advocates, and grassroots organizations to collect the signatures needed to get the proposition on the ballot.
“I’m thrilled. This is fantastic news for Missourians who need long term care and for caregivers like me,” said St. Louis home care attendant Tasha McGhee. “The next step is to work together to improve our jobs and the services we provide.”
The act creates a Quality Home Care Council that would run a statewide registry, coordinate backup services, offer trainings, and negotiate with workers over wages and benefits–if they choose to form a union. Similar councils exist in Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin, and California.
Here is an example of an video used in support of the proposition:
Aaron Toleos, Online Communications Director
atoleos@phinational.org
This wasn’t a vote for quality home care. This was a vote to give your statewide attendant list to a union. Nice going. Why don’t you just organize yourselves? The union is not there to serve you. It’s there to serve itself. It will suck important dollars toward itself, just as this Council will do. We will not pass such a thing in Kansas. We go right to the cabinet Secretaries and to the legislative leaders ourselves. Now compare wages and conditions in Kansas to those in Missouri.