UDW History and Significant Milestones

UDW Homecare Providers Union was inspired by Cesar Chavez, who recruited and trained its leaders and planted in them the seed to build the domestic workers movement. Due to the diversity and isolation of these workers, no one other than Cesar Chavez and UDW, believed it was possible to organize home care and domestic workers. UDW is the first known labor union founded exclusively to represent  home care workers. (Read letter from United Farm Workers President to UDW that documents the historic relationship between UDW and Cesar Chavez.) With its founding, UDW became the third union in American labor history to be founded by blacks or Latinos.

UDW has focused on IHSS home care providers. This work force is 90% female, 25% black, 35% Latina, 9% Asian, 1% Native American, and 30% white. The majority are middle-aged. In many cases they are single Heads of Households, and family members looking after loved ones in order to keep them out of institutions.  Home care providers often leave paid employment in order to do the work, and frequently work additional unpaid hours because the IHSS program is not funded to pay for 24 hour care.

Read the stories of homecare providers & clients in their own words 

UDW has led the way for the past thirty years in working to improve the In Home Support Services program for workers and consumers.  We were the first, and remain the ONLY union in California that exclusively represents homecare providers.

Significant milestones include:

• Won state budget appropriations to provide California IHSS workers with the first ever statewide cost of living raises for four straight budget years during 1983 through 1986.
• Passed legislation to improve standards and reform IHSS home care agency contract programs affecting the bidding process, employee compensation requirements, reducing contract turnover and improving service continuity to IHSS consumers.
• Passed Senate Bill 412 (Greene) in 1987, which capped the counties’ escalating IHSS share of cost. As a result of this bill, county IHSS programs, home care worker wages and client services were dramatically stabilized, thousands of jobs were saved and the IHSS entitlement was preserved.
• 1994, affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), giving UDW a national voice, a national platform and making UDW a national home care workers union.
• UDW wrote, sponsored and won enactment in July, 1999 of landmark legislation (AB 1682) requiring every cunty to establish an IHSS employer of record and guaranteeing 200,000 IHSS home care workers in the State of California the right to collective bargaining. This legislation also established consumer rights to majority representation IHSS Advisory Committees (Boards) in every county and the right of consumers to train their own home care provider.
• June 2000: UDW/AFSCME and SEIU resolve their differences, including jurisdictional disputes, and go the extra mile to form a partnership for all of California’s home care workers structured in a manner whereby each union is vested in each other’s success.
• July 2000: UDW/AFSCME and SEIU won $107 million new state dollars and an additional $150 million in federal funds to cover pay increases and health insurance for home care workers.
• October 2001: UDW Wins historic election when unit of 12,000 San Diego County home care workers vote by 91% for UDW representation marking the largest union election in the country that year and the first UDW County to implement the employer of record.
• March 2003: AB632 introduced by Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe authorizes Workers’ Compensation for IHSS employees.
• June 2003: AB1470 passes the Assembly by a 41-31 vote. Introduced by Assemblyman Juan Vargas the bill gives home care workers the right to seek wage and benefit improvements through a local ballot initiative, if counties do not bargain in good faith.
• July 2003: California Senator John Burton co-authored the State Senate’s version of AB1470, the Vargas Right-to-Vote measure.
• 2004 – 2006: IHSS comes under attack by Governor Schwarzenegger who proposes various and extensive cuts including reducing the IHSS providers salary back to minimum wage; eliminating medical coverage for home care workers; and ending the “Residual Program” that allows relatives to care for their loved ones under the IHSS program. Extensive lobbying, budget analysis, and protest rallies on the part of UDW, other unions, and advocacy organizations stop Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from enacting the cuts to IHSS.
• June 2005 - February 2008 UDW comes under Administratorship of its parent union, AFSCME, due to financial issues. During the Administratorship UDW’s financial problems are resolved, and a new constitution written that lays a foundation for the prevention of similar problems occurring in the future.

After $3,000,000 of debt you are finally in the black. For the first time in your union’s history you will be guided by elected working home care providers and each of the 13 bargaining units will be fairly represented on your Executive Board.
– Flora Walker, AFSCME Administrator for UDW

• March 2007;New UDW constitution is voted in. The constitution holds provisions that UDW is to be governed by an Executive Board made up of home care providers.
• February 2008; In accordance with the new constitution, UDW installs democratically elected leadership comprised of home care providers, with local Chapter representation for every UDW bargaining unit. The elected E- Board chooses Doug Moore as Executive Director for UDW.
• March, 2008;Direct Deposit for homecare providers became available after long term efforts on the part of UDW. For over five years UDW assisted efforts to secure direct deposit for providers’ payroll checks (warrants). Finally, in 2008 direct deposit became a reality, as a result of UDW taking the lead by sponsoring AB 2697 by Assembly Member Bonnie Garcia. The bill had overwhelming support with over 75 co-authors. For IHSS providers, direct deposit is a long, sought after benefit as it had to be enacted into law and funding from the State of California had to be appropriated.
• August 2008; the AFSCME Constitution is amended to allow the UDW its own district in California (AFSCME Local 3930) due to a disaffiliation by agreement from NUHCCE. Doug Moore is unanimously elected to represent the new UDW district on the AFSCME Executive Board.
• 2009; UDW joins lawsuit to stop terrible state budget cuts. Due to the nationwide fiscal crisis, a historic state deficit, and a governor that spread propaganda and misinformation about “massive fraud” in IHSS, the UDW has had to fight sizable reductions to IHSS voted in by the state legislature. Cuts included the capping of wages at $9.50 (plus health benefit), the elimination of state participation in “share of cost” funding, and eligibility terminations for thousands of consumers based on “Functional Index” (FI) Scores. As 2009 came to an end, wage reductions and termination of consumers based on FI Scores were temporarily halted through lawsuits launched by UDW and other activists.
• March-April 2010:  UDW was a leader of the historic March for California’s Future, a 48-day, 350-mile march from Bakersfield to Sacramento to protest unfair budget cuts and help restore the California Dream. 
• June 2010: At the AFSCME International Convention in Boston, UDW played a key role in the election of Lee Saunders as the new Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME.
• November 2010: Recognizing that Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman would carry on the Schwarzenegger administration’s attacks on  homecare providers and the people we serve,  we rolled up our sleeves and said OK – let’s get Jerry Brown elected.  And thanks to you, we did!
• March 2011: UDW prevented a majority of proposed cuts to IHSS by offering cost saving alternatives (Community First Choice Option and the Medication Dispensing Machine Pilot Project) — see State Budget.
• October 2011: SB 930 is signed by Governor Brown.  This legislation addressed unnecessary anti-fraud provisions by repealing the fingerprinting requirement for both consumers & providers on timesheets and removing the prohibition against the use of PO Boxes by providers.
• December 2011: UDW joins advocates in lawsuit to prevent a 20% across the board cut in service hours from being implemented (Oster, et al v. Lightbourne).

In 2012 we are continuing the fight to SAVE HOMECARE from the worst budget deficits and looming social program cuts in California’s history.  Help us by taking action

All of labor recognizes that the future of the movement rests with home care workers and other low-income service industry workers. But in the beginning, it was the brilliant, compassionate vision of Cesar Chavez (founder of the United Farm Workers) together with leaders of   UDW — then known as United Domestic Workers of America– that proved it was possible to organize workers who provide services in the home.  UDW was  the pioneer of this movement. Our trail blazing efforts and sacrifices laid the foundation for others to stand on their shoulders and see the mountaintop!