SEIU contract kicks in for 27,000 home care aides in Minnesota

http://www.startribune.com/seiu-contract-kicks-in-for-27-000-home-care-aides-in-state/311086561/

...And, as of July 1, Hawkins is one of 27,000 workers who will be covered by a first-ever contract negotiated between the Service Employees International Union and the state of Minnesota. The contract will guarantee a wage floor of $10.75 per hour, paid time off, a new grievance process and a training program.

But personal care attendants, known as PCAs, are not state employees, and therein lies a controversy that has raged for years in both the political sphere and the courts. State programs funnel money to families and often to for-profit care companies, some of whom remain resistant to the union and its continued organizing campaign.

The law allowing PCAs to unionize was passed in the final hours of the 2013 legislative session, after which the SEIU obtained 10,000 worker signatures for an election. A majority of workers voted to form a collective bargaining unit last summer.

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Last time I was in a union was 1969.