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Michigan Home Care Workers Are Making History

Across Michigan, nearly 32,000 Home care workers in the Home Help program are gearing up to bargain their first union contract, fighting for improvements in pay, benefits, training, the respect they deserve, and much more. 

In the largest union election in the U.S. since 1999, and the largest in Michigan since the UAW organized in 1941, Michigan Home Care workers overwhelmingly voted YES to join SEIU Healthcare Michigan by a decisive 73% margin. 

Announced on October 9, 2025, this victory launches a new era for care workers in a state known for its labor power and comes thirteen years after anti-worker politicians stripped home care workers of their collective bargaining rights. With one signature, the progress workers had made since first unionizing in 2004 was wiped away. But home care workers didn’t back down. They came together, organized, and won back what was taken from them.

A Movement Years in the Making

Home care workers shared their stories and the stories of those they care for.. They organized rallies, marches, speakouts, and even camped outside the Capitol in Lansing to demand lawmakers confront the care crisis and pass Senate Bills 790 and 791, restoring their right to collectively bargain, and to finally have a voice in how care workers are treated.

They met with lawmakers, participated in community events, and spent years knocking doors, phone banking, and talking directly with workers in every corner of the state. On April 15, 2025, they filed their petition for union representation, beginning the final push toward their union victory that October. 

Building Regional Power

 
After their historic election victory , home care workers hit the road in November for a post-victory statewide tour, visiting Metro Detroit, Ypsilanti, Flint, and Grand Rapids. Workers and their clients packed into meetings to celebrate their historic win, discussing the path to a first contract, meeting with electeds, and talking about what needs to change in order to strengthen Michigan’s home care system. These conversations – shaped by workers’ lived experience across race, ethnicity, language, geography, and background – are now informing the most ambitious and worker-driven contract campaign Michigan has seen in decades.
 

Regional Map

 By organizing across regions, home care workers are aligning our demands and strengthening our leverage as we fight to standards that lift all care work. When workers move together across Metro Detroit, Mid-Michigan, West Michigan, Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, decision-makers can’t ignore us. Regional power is what makes real improvements possible. It means a united struggle for care jobs that allow workers to stay in their communities,  providing consistent, high-quality care. 
 

The Union Difference

Winning the union is a big step toward addressing Michigan’s home care crisis. For too long, caregivers had little say in decisions about wages, benefits, and the resources needed to care for clients safely and with dignity. Now, united with nursing home and hospital workers in SEIU Healthcare Michigan, Home Help Home Care workers have the power to shape the standards that affect their lives, their families, and the people they care for every day. By joining nearly 800,000 home care workers in SEIU across the U.S. and Canada, Michigan caregivers are part of a national movement fighting to transform care jobs and win lasting change.

One Union, One Fight

Your voice is essential in shaping what comes next. If you’re a member, share your priorities for wages, benefits, training, and more by completing the bargaining survey. Filling out your bargaining survey is the first step, but it will take all of us showing up and participating to win a contract that WE, home care workers, deserve.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR BARGAINING SURVEY

Winning a strong contract will take everyone standing together. If you’re not a member of your union yet and want to be part of the fight to transform care work in our state, click the link below.

JOIN OUR UNION TODAY

CONTRIBUTE TO OUR POLITICAL POWER (COPE)

“Before we won our union, I was on my own. Now, united in SEIU Healthcare Michigan, home care workers negotiate together. When something needs to be fixed, I’m not fighting alone. That makes all the difference.” – Evelyn Wilson, Detroit, MI (Region 1)

“Home care is essential and we deserve respect. Joining our union gives us an avenue to make real improvements. We can actually have a say in decisions that affect our jobs and our clients.” – Erika LaFountain, Jackson, MI (Region 2)

“I fought for this union because caring for people shouldn’t mean sacrificing our lives and our families’ stability. Home care workers should be able to thrive, not simply survive, so we can keep doing the work our communities rely on. ” – Mike Ewing, Grands Rapids, MI (Region 3)

“Up here, it can feel like no one cares about home care workers. Being part of our union means all of our voices, across the entire state, can reach Lansing. When we speak with one voice, politicians listen, and that’s how we improve care.” – Arden Childress, Davison, MI (Region 4)

Michigan Home Care Workers In the News

Home care workers: ‘We’re reaching a crisis point’ – WLNS (May 2026)

Lansing can’t afford to ignore home care workers – Detroit News (April 2026)

Home care workers rally for increased pay – WLNS (April 2026)

Home care workers call on Michigan legislature for critical investments – WWJ (April 2026)

How 30,000 People Formed an Impossible Union – Factually! with Adam Conover (April 2026)

Labor Voices: State lawmakers should treat home care as essential work – Detroit News (January 2026)

‘There’s Power in Numbers’ – Capitol & Main (December 2025)

Michigan home care workers win historic union vote – People’s World (October 2025) 

Michigan home care workers vote to unionize in historic SEIU victory affecting 32,000 employees – Fox 17 (October 2025)

Whitmer signs bills to allow home health care workers to unionize – Michigan Advance (October 2024)

Michigan Home Care Workers ‘Camp for Care’ on State Capitol for three days – WILX (September 2024)

Why 35,000 Michigan caregivers are fighting for two pro-union bills – Fast Company (September 2024)