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WORKSThe Magazine of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIOORGANIZE!We’re strengthening our union,one member at a time. SEE PAGE 12BUILDING AUNION,FACE TO FACEHow do we grow and strengthen our union? One door at a time.BY CLYDE WEISSWILLISTON, Vt. — More than 7,000women and men throughout thestate provide home care for relativesand others with mental or physicaldisabilities, including the elderlywho need assistance to remainindependent. Without a union, theseworkers are powerless to lobby thestate – which pays their wages andsets the rules of their occupation – forbetter pay, benefits, and training.That’s why thousands of providershave already signed up with VermontHomecare United/AFSCME. For thefirst time, they are building a unionso they will have a voice in the stateLegislature, with the state agenciesthat govern their services, and beforethe public, whose taxes support homecare programs.Nationwide, we represent 125,000home care workers in the public andprivate sectors, and have ongoingcampaigns to represent thousands ofother home care providers in nearly adozen states. We are the leading voicefor home care – locally and nationally– for these critically important workers,whose jobs are becoming increasinglyessential as America’s agingpopulation swells.We are actively organizing thousandsof workers nationwide, includingemergency medical service workersin California and New England,state workers in Maryland, and cityworkers in Memphis. We’re expandinginto new areas, such as New Orleans,where we’re organizing cab drivers.Here in Vermont, the stateLegislature approved a bill givinghome care providers the right to collectivelybargain over wages and benefits.Although expected to sign, thegovernor had not acted as AFSCMEWORKS went to press. CheckAFSCME.org/blog for the latest. Onceaccomplished, their union will immediatelypetition the state labor boardto hold an election. When a majorityvotes to form their union, they willhave a formal seat at the decisionmakingtable through AFSCME.That’s why Vermont home careproviders Janelle Blake, Carol Delage,and Mary Montgomery are workingso hard to build support for theirAFSCME union. In addition to caringfor clients, these three volunteerorganizers are traveling throughouttheir regions of the state to meet otherproviders in their homes to explain thebenefits of joining Vermont HomecareUnited/AFSCME.This March, while snow and theinescapable mud still covered thelandscape, they – along with otherproviders who have volunteered onthis campaign – headed off in differentdirections to make house calls. Let’stravel and meet with these remarkableorganizers and a few of theproviders they set out to recruit.Upfront and PersonalJanelle Blake sits patiently with ahalf-dozen people at a public library onthis particular March evening to meetwith her state representative, TimothyJerman (D-Essex Junction). Broughttogether by Put People First, a progressivecoalition that includes the VermontAFL-CIO, they want to discuss a numberof issues with the lawmaker.12 AFSCME WORKS SPRING 2013