Labor Department Funds Union Apprenticeship Program

Taxpayers, through the Department of Labor, could be sponsoring union organizing under the auspices of an apprenticeship program to train home care workers.  These apprentices are likely to be forced into paying dues to the SEIU after they take up jobs as healthcare specialists.  Charissa Raynor, the executive director of the SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership and Health Benefits Trust, reveals all on the Department of Labor’s blogsite.

. . . the SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership is working to solve this problem. As the nation’s first U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship program for home care aides, we are a leading organization for home care workforce training and development. In total, we train 40,000 students each year in Washington state, making us the largest home care workforce training provider in the nation.

Meeting our nation’s home care and healthcare needs is a unique challenge, but one in which the SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership is proud to play an increasingly important role. The Registered Apprenticeship Program has been tremendously helpful in helping us prepare a home care workforce that helps meet consumer, worker, and employer goals, and we expect that relationship to continue to grow and expand in the coming years.