Homecare Bargaining Update, April 1, 2025 Session 

Our union’s Executive Director Melissa Unger and members of the Homecare bargaining team presented our opening statement to the State’s team, emphasizing how critical our work is. Members of our team shared stories about our real life struggles as homecare workers and how we need the state to address each of our core priorities: wages, language justice, systems that don’t meet the needs of workers or consumers, paid time off and respect.  

We began the process of exchanging proposals across the table, with our first proposal being around Language Justice.  

Being the most language-diverse bargaining unit at SEIU 503, we drove home the point of the State’s need to communicate to workers in languages we understand best, rather than providing documents and information only in English. 

In addition, we shared our Bargaining Support Petition, which was signed by nearly 4000 homecare and personal support workers and personal care attendants and was on display in the room where we met with the State’s bargaining team. When workers make their voices heard, it really does make a difference. 

We meet with the State’s team again on Tuesday, May 6th in Salem.