A few years ago, we wrote about the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) fast-and-loose game with membership reporting by including retired educators who do not realize they are being counted as full union members. The AFT does this to keep their numbers looking less embarrassing in a time of basically flat union density.
A similar but far more sinister situation has been brewing with the Home Healthcare Workers of America (HHWA) union, as a recent investigation by NYC-based non-partisan publication THE CITY has revealed. The HHWA, which claims to have vaulted to 43,000+ members, “up from 14,141 in 2018,” is affiliated with the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades (IUJAT). The allegations lodged by THE CITY are vast:
- HHWA pulls dues from thousands of workers who never signed a union authorization card or voted in an election. These $30 dues cause some workers to take home less than minimum wage, with their contracts requiring arbitration on pay disputes, including overtime complaints.
- In 2024, the HHWA collected nearly $13 million in dues from low-paid home care aides; over half of that money has gone to IUJAT, and HHWA union officers reaped high salaries, including $1.4 million for founder Steven Elliott Sr., who has since passed away, along with high six-figure salaries for his relatives, who are also officers.
- These workers aren’t made aware that they are paying dues. They mysteriously stopped receiving pay stubs, which would have shown deductions. They haven’t seen benefits packets or met union reps.
- THE CITY uncovered over a dozen instances where home healthcare companies signed HHWA contracts, thereby waiving any need for an election for this union to represent thousands of new workers.
You might be asking why these companies signed their workers up with what appears to be a fake union. That’s a valid question, and for starters, a labor attorney declared that the HHWA’s “reps advocate to boost revenue for company owners – pitching it as a win-win that helps workers too.” Yet, as THE CITY further suggests, this selling point cannot be the whole story.
The situation looks more menacing in light of the not-too-distant history of IUJAT-related maneuverings. In 2018, an associate of the IUJAT-affiliated United Plant and Production Workers received a five-year federal sentence for extorting companies through mob-linked interference with businesses to force workers into union contracts. The same MO applied to a Bronx trash hauling depot. The Teamsters were suddenly booted for a mob-led IUJAT local, leading to safety violations and on-the-job accidents piling up.
The HHWA is also looking to become a political force. These aspirations are clear in NYC, where the union endorses local races and has leveraged its increasing “membership” to lobby for the reversal of a state provision that favored SEIU-affiliated home health agencies for budget funding.
Make no mistake; the HHWA isn’t genuinely standing up for the rights of “a group largely of immigrant women working their first job in the U.S.,” as the union’s political director declared about that NY state provision. Instead, this IUJAT-affiliated group wants another door into the home healthcare industry. These workers deserve transparency from the union and the chance to make an educated decision on whether they want to be represented or not.
