Join the Journey to Self-Governance for SEIU Healthcare Michigan
This summer, SEIU Healthcare Michigan members have the power to take a historic step forward. Ballots for our Constitution and Bylaws vote are being mailed out starting June 25, and your vote is your voice in building the union we all deserve. This is more than a vote on governance documents, it’s about reclaiming member-led leadership, expanding our collective power, and setting in motion a bold, worker-driven vision for the future of healthcare in Michigan.
Crafted by your fellow members on the M.U.S.T Committee, the proposed Constitution and Bylaws reflect the values we’ve heard across our worksites: strong contracts, fair wages, political power, ethical leadership, and a union that fights for racial, economic, and immigrant justice. By ratifying this framework, we can unlock the ability to elect our own officers, launch a Solidarity & Strike Fund, and build an organization that puts healthcare workers in charge of our destiny. Let’s flex our power, fund our fights, and forge our future together.
M.U.S.T. Committee & Our Journey
SEIU Healthcare Michigan Member,
Thank you for your commitment to building a better future for healthcare workers and the communities we serve.
For 60 years, we’ve been proud to stand with the SEIU family fighting not just for dignity and respect, but also winning the raises, protections, and power Michigan healthcare workers need to support their families and communities.
Over the last several years, we’ve worked alongside SEIU HCMI members from across the state through the Michigan United Strong Team (MUST) to build a stronger, more united union. That hard work has paid off. Our members have accomplished amazing work together. This past year alone, we have:
✅ Fought for and won stronger wages, benefits, and working standards in 60 union contract campaigns, covering 10,000 healthcare workers
✅ Won nearly half a million dollars in damages from employers
✅ Organized over 4,000 new members into the HCMI family
✅ Restored collective bargaining rights for 35,000 homecare workers
Now it’s time for the next step: starting the process of returning our union to self-governance by adopting a new Constitution and Bylaws.
To vote, you must be a dues-paying member in good standing by May 31, 2025.
Watch the video below to hear directly from our MUST Committee members about this important moment.
Thank you for standing up alongside your fellow workers as we pave the way for a stronger future. Together, we are building a union that will be ready to Flex Our Power, Fund Our Fights, and Forge A Future that all healthcare workers deserve.
In Solidarity,
Charlesetta Wilson, Gabriella Jones-Casey, Robert Gibson, and Kim Evon
What are Members Voting On?
Constitution & Bylaws
Summary of proposed changes to the SEIU HCMI Constitution and Bylaws, which includes our organizational priorities and proposed Regional Map.
(Proposed) SEIU HCMI Constitution and Bylaws (C&B)
Full C&B document to be voted on by SEIU-HCMI members. This document includes all proposed changes to the C&B, including the expansion of the elected member leadership structure and the establishment of a Solidarity and Strike fund. If ratified by the membership, this document will become the governing constitution of the local.
(Proposed) SEIU-HCMI Elected Leadership Structure
This is the proposed leadership structure for the local, which allows for increased representation of members across sectors and geography. In this proposed new structure members rights and responsibilities are centered, so as to ensure that member’s voices are always part of the decision-making process.
(Proposed) SEIU-HCMI Regional Map
Through this proposed Regional Map, we aim to ensure full representation both across our sectors (Home & Community Based Services, Health Systems, and Nursing Homes) and within our geographies. We want to ensure that whether workers work in the UP, Grand Rapids, Lansing, or Ann Arbor, they are always able to make their voices heard.
Member Resources
SEIU-HCMI Interactive Regional Map
(For Desktop Use Only. Not for use on mobile)
Got Questions?
What are SEIU HCMI members voting on?
A constitution and by-laws is a document that establishes, and outlines, the core operational principles and rules of an organization, spelling out the procedures for daily functioning. It often includes an organization’s mission and vision, membership requirements, officer title(s) and duties, and procedures for making major changes.
The Constitution and Bylaws (C&B) is an expression of:
- Who we are as an organization and what our members want us to achieve
- How our members want us to lead
- How we hold our members’ trust and are held accountable
Highlights include:
- Mission and vision statements that reflect our members’ values and what they want our organization to be, including membership rights and responsibilities that center who we serve as an organization.
- A Leadership structure that increases the number of member leadership roles including:
- A Sector Vice President for Health Systems, Nursing Homes, Home & Community Based Services and Nurse Alliance who are all elected by members at large.
- A guaranteed representative of each sector, in each geographic region in all parts of Michigan where we represent workers so that we can grow as our membership grows. This will ensure that our members’ voices, across our industry and geography, can partake in the decision-making process.
- A membership dues structure that supports us in achieving our collective goals, and that establishes a Solidarity & Strike Fund, which will strengthen our ability to win strong contracts and higher standards while allowing members to fairly invest in our organization’s success.
- Organizational priorities that will allow us to Flex Our Power, Fund Our Fights and Forge Our Future that result in:
- Winning with our members on the issues that matter to them - improved wages, benefits and working conditions that demonstrate that healthcare workers are respected, protected and paid our value in our industry.
- Centering our members as the source of our power – providing member leaders with the training, tools, and resources they need to hold employers accountable, drive contract campaigns and represent their co-workers on the job.
- Uniting healthcare workers across the state - Organizing over 50,000 healthcare workers to join our Union by 2030 to build a powerful movement of healthcare workers across Michigan that can improve the lives of our families and our communities.
- Ethical practices, checks and balances that hold our organization and elected representatives to the highest standards.
The M.U.S.T. (Michigan United Strong Team), a diverse group of members from across the state and our sectors, used information about the current and future challenges facing healthcare workers, along with their unique experiences as healthcare workers and union members from across our state. These organizational priorities are a set of recommendations to the members that they felt best reflected what the members said they wanted the union to focus on. You can find a description on all of these organizational priorities in the proposed Constitution and Bylaws on our website.
Members of the M.U.S.T. (Michigan United Strong Team) developed a set of principles as a guide to ensure that the dues structure affords our local the ability to Flex Our Power, Fund Our Fights and Forge Our Future by including:
- The creation of a Solidarity & Strike Fund to leverage strong contracts and improve standards.
- Resources that ensure we meet our goals and empower our members.
- A fair and equitable percentage. A minimum and a maximum dues amount.
- Flexibility needed to build towards the future
The proposed dues rate for all Regular Members of the Union would go from 2.5% to 1.75% of their regular monthly earnings (excluding overtime) with a minimum dues of $27.50 and maximum dues rates for Part-time and Full-time members as shown below, whichever is greater. The maximum monthly dues rates will increase by $1.50 each year.
- Part-time (up to 30 hours a week) Maximum Monthly Dues Rate = $33.50
- Full-time (over 30 hours a week) Maximum Monthly Dues Rate = $61.00
The Solidarity & Strike Fund is a fund that will be used to help protect and promote the standards of healthcare workers SEIU HCMI represents. At a minimum, $1 per member, per month, will be allocated to the fund. Contributions to a Solidarity & Strike Fund shall be included in the dues rates as defined above.
How does the VOTE work?
All regular members in good standing, as of May 31, 2025, are eligible to vote in the C&B. A regular member in good standing is any individual employed in a bargaining unit for which the Union is the recognized bargaining agent and has paid dues in the month of May.
Yes – if you can provide the union with a copy of your paystub showing that dues were deducted for that month.
The vote will be conducted by a third party vendor and take place by a secret mail- in ballot.
Ballots will be mailed to eligible “members in good standing” starting June 25, 2025.
For all information regarding your ballot, please contact the Merriman River Group (MRG), 3rd party Election Administrator, at 877-324-7655 or log on to www.mrgballot.com.
If you make a mistake marking your ballot, or have not received a ballot, the deadline to request a replacement ballot is 5:00 pm EDT, Thursday, July 18, 2025. Ballots must be received in the assigned PO Box no later than 10:00 am EDT on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
After the ballot count on July 24th, the outcomes of the vote will be communicated on the local’s website and through an email and text to members.
If the Constitution and By-laws vote does not pass, our process of returning to self-governance will be stalled. We will remain in Trusteeship under our International Union, until our members ratify a new Constitution and By-laws and an officer election is held under the new Constitution and By-Laws. Additionally, this will limit our ability to have the resources necessary to defend and fight for the programing members that they wanted.
Once ratified by the members, the Constitution and By-laws will go into effect as soon as all ballots have been counted and certified.