If you want quality care, make home care work a quality job

Last week, home care workers in Ontario voted in favor of joining SEIU. In a vote held by the Ontario Labour Relations Board, personal support workers employed by the Victorian Order of Nurses in Brampton and Mississauga voted 83 percent in favor of joining SEIU Local 1 Canada. This past Monday, more good news raising the quality of life for home care aides broke, as 780 home care workers from Addus Healthcare became the first long term care workers to join SEIU Local 1107. They are the latest workers, along with those joining Local 1 Canada, to join SEIU in their growing campaign to raise standards and improve the quality of home care across North America.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one of the fastest growing areas in health care is home health aides. But dedicated home care providers are frustrated by a system that often does not pay a living wage or offer health benefits. In 2008, a full-time home health aide made an average of $14,000. Thirty-six percent of home health aides in this country are uninsured and forty-five percent live below the federal poverty level income.