Private Sector Human Services

Greetings, Private Sector Human Services workers! Our chapter, one of sixteen chapters at Local 509, has recently increased to over 6,000 members, fully one third of the Local’s entire membership.

What’s in a name?
It can sound like union jargon, but what makes us Private Sector workers is that we work in privately owned agencies which receive most of their funding from the Commonwealth, unlike our Sisters and Brothers in the thirteen Public Sector chapters, who are State workers. The remaining two non-public chapters are the Family Child Care Providers and Early Educators chapter and our newest members we’ve been organizing in the Higher Ed chapter.

Who are we?
We provide a diverse group of services amongst our 39 agencies. Nearly 3,000 of our members work in thirteen agencies which exclusively provide services to people with developmental disabilities, in group homes, day programs, and independent living. Over 900 members at our largest agency, Eliot Community Human Services, provide a mix of services to DD, DMH, DCF, DYS/JJ (Juvenile Justice), homeless clients and more. We have fourteen other agencies with close to 2,000 members who work in women, family and community services while others provide child protection. We have clinicians and direct care workers in agencies dedicated to helping those with mental illnesses and addictions. Close to 500 members work with one of our most vulnerable populations, the aged, in home care elderly services settings.

How can I get more involved?
We are constantly striving to better our working lives, negotiating contracts to hopefully increase wages and our benefits. You can be proactive in the betterment of your personal lives by joining your contract negotiation team, or you can lift yourself up by attending the next Lobby Day, at the State House, on Thursday, April 14. We will send out more details but if you sign up, we can pay for you to miss work that day, or check your contract, some employers even pay for you to attend that important day, they want you to get more money from the Commonwealth. Talk to your field rep about becoming a union steward. Think about joining the PSHS CEB (Chapter Executive Board); we meet on the first Thursdays of the month at 6:30 pm. Contact me to learn more about this.

Maybe you’re interested in the big picture of the goings on at the Local? The Joint Executive Board (JEB) meets on the second Tuesdays of the month. The JEB is the governing body of the Local; this can be described as the board with the real movers and shakers of the entire Local.