Organizing home care: Low-waged workers in the welfare state
March 1, 2006
Politics & Society Vol. 34, No. 1
This article looks at the process of unionization of home health aides, associated organizing challenges and policy innovations, and the link between governmental welfare policies and aides’ workforce status. Case studies of Oregon and California show how grassroots coalitions of workers, recipients, and activists transformed labor policy and improved working conditions by forcing the state to recognize home health care attendants as a legitimate part of the workforce.