Summit Independent Living Center, Inc.

I-159 has been pulled

SEIU is apparently pulling I-159 from the ballot today in a press conference scheduled for 11:00. This is great news for Montana, especially Montana’s senior, disabled, and caregiver communities. Thank you to everyone who had a hand in spreading the word about the true intent of the initiative, all of your hard work has paid off. We will continue to monitor things to make sure this is really dead and to see if something else pops up. Here is a post on the Montana Main Street Blog about the initiative being pulled:

http://montanamainstreetblog.typepad.com/montana_main_street_blog/

June 25, 2008
SEIU Retreats: I-159 Getting Pulled from Ballot
Word on the street is that I-159 will be "voluntarily" pulled tomorrow today at a press conference. I-159 is the Service Employees International Union's (SEIU) attempt to unionize home health care workers in Montana through a ballot initiative.

This is good news since many Montanans would not have gotten the full story on this initiative before they were expected to vote it up or down. Signature gathers around the state for this initiative highlighted the initiative's increased funding for home health care services, background checks and hightened training standards for home health care workers. Few pointed out that the more than half of the initiative focused on new collective bargaining laws. It's a classic stealth campaign with a hidden agenda with big dollars coming from out-of-state to fund it.

Apparently there was pressure from I-155 (Cover All Kids - SCHIP) supporters, the administration, legislators and others to pull this from the ballot. I-155 is going to cost taxpayers more, and supporters of that initiative worried too much money was being requested on ballot measures at a time when state government will likely see leaner times. According to recent news articles, Helena could be seeing red ink next session after present law adjustments are factored into the next budget. Additionally, it didn't help that groups like AARP came out against the initiative. If you can't get the support of the people who will supposedly benefit from this initiative, it can be a hard sell.

This won't be the last SEIU attempts to grow in Montana. They have had some success unionizing a variety of different workers around the country, including strippers. Still, many workers are finding out that SEIU's heavy-handed style is not the kind of representation they want.
Posted at 09:18 AM in Elections Permalink

Here’s an earlier post on the Montana Main Street Blog if you are interested. http://montanamainstreetblog.typepad.com/montana_main_street_blog/2008/05/i-159-seius-att.html

The TRUTH about Initiative I-159

There is a petition drive currently going on to gather signatures in support of Initiative I-159 in an attempt to qualify it for the November 2008 ballot. The language below will appear on the petition and ballot initiative:

BALLOT LANGUAGE FOR INITIATIVE NO. 159 (I-159)

INITIATIVE 159

A LAW PROPOSED BY INITIATIVE PETITION.

I-159 establishes a program to provide home care services to low-income disabled and elderly persons by individual home care providers. These services now are provided only by home care
businesses. Both programs are paid for by government funds. Under the new program, a home care recipient chooses an individual home care provider who is trained and certified by the state. Individual home care providers may collectively bargain with the state, but only through a statewide union exclusively composed of individual providers, and they may not strike.
I-159 costs approximately $2.6 million of state funds the first year, increasing to $7 million by 2013, to train, certify, and supervise an increasing number of individual providers. To the extent available, federal Medicaid funds pay for the remaining program costs.

[] FOR establishing a program to provide home care services by individual providers who may collectively bargain with the state.

[] AGAINST establishing a program to provide home care services by individual providers who may collectively bargain with the state.

►FACT: I-159 is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a well-funded international union with 1.9 million members.

►FACT: SEIU developed this ballot initiative totally on its own accord, with no consideration for input from the disability community, the aging network, the personal assistance provider agencies, or the state. This is a prime example of a wealthy out-of-state group forcing unwanted and unneeded change on Montana.

►FACT: The initiative is a backdoor way to unionize the personal care workforce. Individual providers (caregivers) would be forced to join SEIU and pay union dues, yet have no vote on joining or not..

Since 1995, Montana has been offering quality, consumer-directed, in-home care services to assist people with disabilities and our seniors to continue living independently in the home and community of their choice.

►FACT: The “individual provider” program would duplicate and eventually replace the existing Self-Directed Personal Assistance Services (SDPAS) program, which has worked well in Montana since 1995. The SDPAS program already allows consumers to direct their own care, including hiring, firing, and supervising their caregivers through a co-employment relationship with provider agencies.

►FACT: The “individual provider” program exposes consumers to more risk for exploitation or, abuse and neglect because it does away with the provider agencies who perform the oversight and accountability functions of the SDPAS program that help ensure consumer health, safety, and welfare.

►FACT: The “individual provider” program places the consumers in the role of employer, taking on the risks, liabilities and responsibilities that accompany having employees. The state would be required to serve as a fiscal agent for consumers for payment of wages, filing taxes and other administrative functions, but consumers would still hold the liability for complying with wage and hour laws, workers compensation regulations, etc.

►FACT: Personal assistants who work as individual providers would be required to complete mandatory training, background check and certification requirements each year, regardless of their years of experience providing personal care.

►FACT: Currently, under the SDPAS Program consumers are responsible for and able to train their own caregivers to perform tasks based on their own personal needs. I-159 would take that opportunity away from the individuals and instead, create a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to training personal assistants which the state would be required to administer.

►FACT: Personal assistants working as individual providers would assume the liability for providing care to consumers. In the SDPAS program, consumers assume the medical liability for their care, not the caregivers.

►FACT:I-159 will not provide money to get people out of nursing homes, nor does it "rebalance" the long-term care system in Montana by shifting funds from nursing homes into home and community-based services.

►FACT: I-159 would expand state bureaucracy by requiring the state to assume the fiscal agent role currently done by private provider agencies, along with requirements for training, certification and registry of individual providers.

►FACT: I-159 is expensive, estimated at $2.6 million the first year, and increasing to $7 million a year in five years. The fiscal note for this initiative may be grossly underestimating the cost. Yet these increased costs do not go towards better wages and benefits for caregivers, or more services for consumers, they go towards increased administrative costs for the state.

Paid for by:Summit Independent Living Center, Inc. AGAINST I-159 P.O. Box 3184 Missoula, MT 59806 406-728-1630 Mike Mayer, Treasurer

Summit is an advocacy and resource center for people with disabilities as well as an in-home, self-directed personal assistance program provider.

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Reuters
U.N. pact for rights of disabled comes into force
05.03.08, 10:47 AM ET
Ecuador - By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. convention aimed at ensuring equal rights for the world's 650 million disabled people in work, education and social life went into force Saturday. The pact, the first of its kind and billed by the United Nations as the first new human rights treaty of the 21st Century, took effect 30 days after being ratified by 20 countries that have signed it. That figure has since risen to 25, but does not include the United States and Russia.In a statement last month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the implementation of the pact less than two years after its adoption by the General Assembly -- a short time by U.N. standards -- a "historic moment."

Ban said it showed the world was committed to combating "the egregious neglect and dehumanizing practices that violate the human rights of persons with disabilities."

The 32-page U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities outlaws all forms of discrimination at work on the basis of disability, including in hiring, promotion and working conditions. It requires equal pay for work of equal value.

It also calls on signatory states to promote the employment of disabled people, including through "affirmative action" programs that favor them.

The pact stipulates that the disabled may not be excluded from mainstream education systems. It demands that governments provide them with physical access to transportation, schools, housing, medical facilities and workplaces.

So far, 127 of the 192 U.N. member states have signed the convention. But only just over half of those have signed an annex allowing individuals and groups to complain to the United Nations that their governments are not implementing the convention.

In such cases, a U.N. committee would refer the complaint to the government concerned, which must provide a written explanation within six months.

U.S. officials said the document was weaker than the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991 and therefore could complicate enforcement of that law.

U.N. officials said the new convention did not create new rights but aimed to ensure that benefits of existing rights were guaranteed.

"Persons with disabilities have routinely suffered discrimination in the job market, in schools and in receiving public services," said Akiko Ito, a U.N. official specializing in the issue.

"This convention will make sure that these people will no longer be ignored."

(Editing by Jackie Frank)Copyright 2008 Reuters

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