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PCA group caring for disabled seeks to decertify union

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

 

ST. PAUL – Personal care attendants throughout Minnesota are waging a campaign to decertify their affiliation with the Service Employees International Union.

The PCAs are seeking Election Authorization cards from PCAs in the Choice Program to end SEIU ties after a controversial 2014 election approving the bargaining unit. A slim 13 percent of the 27,000 eligible PCAs participated in the vote which established the union. Most of the PCA are women caring for a disabled family member under a Medicaid program.

The current PCA initiative is seeking to round up as many signatures as they can. They are required to get 30 percent of the bargaining unit to get a follow-up election. The problem is, the care workers indicate the Minnesota Department of Human Services has never given them a reliable list of PCAs so they do not know how many signatures to get.

An initial Dec. 2 deadline to collect the requisite signatures was extended after petitioners filed the required petition. Their attorney, Doug Seaton, explained, “We are confident that we have enough cards to get a new election. But, since we are allowed to supplement the showing with more cards up until a hearing is scheduled, we are asking PCAs to keep sending cards.”

Personal care attendants wishing to call for a new election can call (612) 460-5457 or log on to www.mnpca.org to create, sign and mail their card.

“The election that took place in 2014 was suspect for a number of reasons and this effort could help produce a true measure of where PCAs stand on this issue,” said Rep. Jeff Howe, R-Rockville. “The important thing about the timing of this petition is it could settle this issue before a new two-year contract is scheduled to be put in place this summer.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services recently called for a suspension of contract negotiations to accommodate the decertification campaign and in recognition of repeated issues related to the accuracy and timeliness of PCA lists provided by the DHS.

“The PCA group has done everything in its power to follow proper procedure and the least we can expect is for the agency to respond in kind,” Howe said. “Enough with the top-down push on this issue. The state and the union both need to take a step back and listen to what these PCAs have to say. It doesn’t seem their voices were heard in 2014 or that they have had a fair hearing since.”

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