1,000 New Jersey Adult Day Care Providers Join CWA

by James Parks, Mar 14, 2008

Care providers for developmentally disabled adults, along with members of CWA Locals 1037 and 1040, join New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine as he signs an order recognizing the workers’ union.

More than 1,000 New Jersey providers who open their homes to care for developmentally disabled adults have gained a voice on the job by joining the Communications Workers of America (CWA).  

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) signed an executive order recognizing the union last week, two days after the state Board of Mediation verified that a majority of the workers, called sponsors, signed cards seeking representation by CWA Locals 1037 and 1040. 

CWA Vice President Chris Shelton says: 

This is what “standing together” really means. These two locals accomplished great things by working collectively. 

With the help of CWA organizers, workers set up committees in the state’s 21 counties and began visiting homes. Anne Luck, organizing director for Local 1037, says organizers collected union authorization cards from about 60 percent of the sponsors. The sponsors take in up to four developmentally disabled adults and receive a monthly check from the state that covers room and board and pays wages based on how much care each patient needs. 

Luck said the sponsors are “thrilled” with what they believe is the first unit of its kind in the nation.  

For the sponsors who were at the signing, especially, they really felt the power of winning a union.  

The New Jersey workers were able to choose to join a union by signing authorization cards—a choice that many workers do not have. Some 60 million U.S. workers say they would join a union if they could, based on research conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates in December 2006.

But when workers try to gain a voice on the job by forming a union, employers routinely respond with intimidation, harassment and retaliation. The Employee Free Choice Act would allow workers to freely decide whether to join a union.

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