Maryland Home Care Providers' Bargaining Rights Become Law

(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