HARTFORD, Conn. -- Caregivers at group homes in Connecticut have sent strike notices to two agencies after failure to reach contract agreements to increase wages and reduce health-insurance costs.

Roughly 500 union workers with the agencies Whole Life and Network Human Services are prepared to walk out Oct. 5.

After working through the pandemic understaffed and with low pay, group-home workers received $184 million from the state through the Service Employees International Union's (SEIU) Long-term Care Workers Bill of Rights. It would increase wages to $16.50 an hour this year, and $17.25 the following year.

Kevin Mackie, a direct support staff worker for 32 years at Network Human Services, said the agency will not discuss raises despite having the state funds.

"We're not talking a huge amount of money here," Mackie contended. "We've waited a very long time for raises. And it's been a very long time coming, because we are always forgotten. We're the forgotten employees working with the forgotten people."

Representatives from Whole Life and Network Human Services did not respond to requests for comment. Contract negotiations for Network employees are set to resume today. They have been without a contract since March. Whole Life workers have been without a new contract since 2019.

Kindra Fontes-May, organizer for SEIU 1199 New England, said it is also important to look at the workers' grievances through a racial-justice lens.

"Part of why the workforce is so forgotten is that the majority of the workforce is Black and brown, and primarily women; white, working-class people," Fontes-May outlined. "And when you deal with populations like that, who are also giving care to folks that are disabled, it is very easy to overlook it."

Fontes-May added many Connecticut group-home workers have requested racial-justice language be included in their new contracts. So far, facility administrators have not agreed.

A bill in Olympia would open access to unemployment while workers are on strike, but time is running out for lawmakers to pass the legislation.

House Bill 1893 has made its way through the House but has to get approval from the Senate by the end of today. David Groves, communications director for the Washington State Labor Council, said the bill would help level the playing field at the bargaining table.

"Currently, employers can adopt a starve-them-out strategy where they refuse to negotiate in good faith," he said, "because they know that their workers, especially when they earn low wages, aren't in a position to go without a paycheck."

The legislation would allow workers to access unemployment after two weeks on strike for a maximum of four weeks. Opponents have said it would cost the state too much and could incentivize workers to strike. Last year was the most active year for labor activity and strikes in more than two decades.

Groves said employers have too much control in bargaining.

"This bill will promote good-faith bargaining because it will be a real possibility that workers could withhold their labor and go on strike," he said, "and that will give them the bargaining power they need to get a decent agreement and to get better wages and working conditions."

Maine, New Jersey and New York allow access to unemployment for striking workers.

Washington's legislative session is scheduled to adjourn next Thursday.


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Texas postal customers, especially in rural areas, are experiencing delays in mail delivery, and some letter carriers feel it could get worse.

Staffing shortages are blamed for certain delays but others believe a demoralized workforce and a 10-year Postal Service improvement plan also are a problem. To reduce financial losses, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy unveiled the "Delivering for America" plan in 2020.

Alex Aleman, president of the American Postal Workers Union Local 195 in San Antonio, believes the work environment continues to deteriorate, causing many who come onboard to quit, even though the benefits are good.

"At the San Antonio Post Office, they hire people and they go to work, they try it out for a few days and some of them don't come back at all," Aleman observed. "They just go, 'No, this is not for me.'"

An audit by the Office of the Inspector General last year found the U.S. Postal Service lost almost 60% of its non-career employees in 2022.

At a recent Postal Service public hearing in Texas, Aleman relayed his concerns about a potential consolidation of postal services to San Antonio from Corpus Christi. Since the 2020 plan was implemented, the number of conversions has grown to 125,000, which in some locations has increased the time of mail delivery.

Aleman noted he also hears stories about name-calling, sexual harassment and discrimination.

"When they go to work they're so concerned about management targeting them, so it's not a good work environment," Aleman asserted. "And they really can't just come forward and complain because if they do, they fear retaliation."

Last year, DeJoy said the agency is trying to reduce labor costs because it lost $6.5 billion in 2023, an improvement over much bigger losses in prior years.

Aleman worries the ultimate goal is privatization of the post office, not improvement.

Labor organizers are pushing back on a measure in the Iowa Legislature they say is designed to undermine unions.

It would create an additional step in order for a labor union to be certified by the state.

Senate Study Bill 3158, introduced by the Republican majority, would require public employers that hire union-backed workers to submit a list of employees who are in the bargaining unit to the state within 10 days of a union recertification election.

If they fail to do so, the state will immediately decertify the union, unless the union takes the employer to court.

American Federation of Labor (AFL) Iowa chapter President Charlie Wishman called the bill a clear attempt to disrupt unions.

"If they're not sending in the list, why are they punishing the union by saying that the union needs to take the employer to court?" said Wishman. "It's just totally upside down, on its face."

Supporters of the measure claim the state had not been getting union membership information in a timely manner from more than 40% of companies holding recertification elections, and that this measure would fix that.

Wishman said unions have addressed that issue and claim it's no longer a problem.

Wishman suggested the bill would further burden an already overloaded court system at taxpayer expense.

"This is creating confusion," said Wishman, "and it is going to create more court cases, and it is creating more bureaucracy that didn't need to be there."

Study Bill 3158 awaits action in the Iowa Senate.