Maryland Home Care Providers' Bargaining Rights Become Law
Monday, May 23, 2011(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Nearly 5,000 Maryland independent home care providers have
achieved another victory in a campaign for dignity that began in 2008 when they
voted to join AFSCME Council 67. Recently, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley
signed into law the providers’ right to collectively bargain with the state,
following legislative passage of a bill codifying O’Malley’s 2007 executive
order giving approximately 4,600 providers the power to join a union and bargain
collectively with the state over their Medicaid-funded program. The providers
followed that achievement last year by winning a first contract (Home
Care Providers Ratify First Contract, 8/5/2010 UC). The
three-year agreement increased provider rates, set up a state-provider
cooperation committee to address health and safety concerns, and also included a
provider’s “Bill of Rights.” – adapted from a report on
AFSCME Council 67’s website