Employees at Houselink Community Housing in Toronto voted overwhelmingly for SEIU at a union certification vote held on January 17, 2012. SEIU welcomes dozens of new members into the ever-growing SEIU family.
“These workers are passionate advocates for their clients and wanted someone with that same passion to assist them advocating for themselves in the workplace," said John Klein, one of the organizers on the campaign. "Better wages and manageable workloads are at the top of the list of bargaining issues. Others, such as improved organizational transparency, will come later through labour management meetings."
“They are a strong group of workers who will become strong advocates for themselves when they start negotiating their first contract,” added Christine Harwart, another organizer on the campaign.
Houselink employees did a lot of research before they picked SEIU. A union committee with about 20 workers from Houselink interviewed eight different unions to see which one was best suited for them. They chose SEIU because they broke the provincial wage freeze in 2010, are leaders in healthcare and have done a large amount of political and advocacy work.
SEIU Local 1 Canada is an Organizing Union that represents more than 50,000 health care and community services workers in Ontario. Its members work in hospitals, home care, nursing and retirement homes and community services.