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SEIU Healthcare 775NW

SEIU Healthcare 775NW was formed in 2003 when home care and nursing home workers from several different SEIU locals united together to form a union focused specifically on long-term care workers and issues. SEIU Healthcare 775NW now represents almost 34,000 home care and nursing home workers in Washington state and Montana. SEIU Healthcare is one of the most effective grassroots advocacy organizations both nationally and here in the Northwest.

We’re named after Initiative 775, the Quality Home Care Initiative which voters overwhelmingly approved in 2001 and which gave 23,000 Individual Provider home care workers the right to form a union in the largest union election ever held in Washington state.

Since 2002, thousands of home care workers at private agencies like ResCare/Armstrong, Addus Healthcare, Chesterfield Healthcare, Catholic Community Services of Western Washignton, Korean Women’s Association, Amicable, Unique, AAA Residential Services and Home Care Services of Montana have united with SEIU Healthcare 775NW and gained new raises and improved benefits.

Since 2006, more than 1800 workers at 22 nursing homes across Washington state have joined with SEIU Healthcare 775NW, quadrupling the number of nursing home workers in our union, and winning raises of 6-14% each year. Nursing home workers are advocating for improving the quality of care through public policy and a voice in care delivery within union facilities.

Wages have improved by 40% throughout Washington home care as over the last five years, SEIU Healthcare 775NW has won more than $400 million in improved wages and benefits for Washington home care workers, including affordable health care including dental, prescription drug and vision coverage, paid vacations, and wage scales with guaranteed increases based on experience. Our grassroots advocacy efforts and union contracts have also increased the number of hours of care for both clients and hours of work for caregivers. In Montana, we are opening up options for more seniors and people with disabilities to live in their own homes with quality long term care, and we passed legislation "Healthcare for Healthcare Workers". We are now engaged in state and national efforts on workforce development, to recognize home and community-based care as an emerging healthcare profession.

SEIU Healthcare 775NW Executive Board

SEIU Healthcare 775NW Executive Board, serving a two year term 2009-2011

Executive Committee

  • David Rolf, President
  • Suzanne Wall, Secretary Treasurer
  • Adam Glickman-Flora, Vice President
  • Nora Kelley, Vice President


Executive Committee Members at Large

  • Carol Frontiero, CNA, Vashon Community Care Center, Vashon
  • Timothy Janssen, Home Care Aide, Addus, Wenatchee
  • Linda Lee, Individual Provider, Vancouver
  • Earlene Webster, Home Care Aide, Amicable, Des Moines
  • Susie Young, Home Care Aide, Addus, Spokane

Executive Board Members at Large
  • Valerie Anderson-Webb, Home Care Aide, Addus, Spokane
  • Manuel Brito, Individual Provider, Bow
  • Philip Bradford, Home Care Aide, Catholic Community Services, Tacoma
  • Catherine Byrd, Individual Provider, Spokane
  • Bonnie Epps, Individual Provider, Walla Walla
  • Glenda Faatoafe, Home Care Aide, Korean Women's Association, Lacey
  • Dawn Forks, Individual Provider, Tacoma 
  • Lorene Hart, CNA, Eagle Grandview, Sunnyside
  • Sharon Kitchel-Perdue, Individual Provider, Olympia
  • Chong Lee, Home Care Aide, ResCare, Tacoma
  • David Lindberg, Individual Provider, Everett
  • Donna Peake, CNA, Extendicare Specific, Vancouver
  • Dana Simmons, Individual Provider, Spokane
  • Alemtshay Tesfay, CNA, Sun Ballard, Seattle
  • Tanika Thompson, Home Care Aide, Addus, Seattle
  • Rosa Vadillo-Rodriguez, Home Care Aide, Korean Women's Association, Tacoma
  • Karen Washington, Individual Provider, Spokane 

US Senator Patty Murray (Washington) on the Training Partnership:
"The SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership’s track record of innovation will make a real difference in the lives of long-term care workers and the people they care for. This successful model is the result of an incredible collaboration between the State of Washington, private home care agencies and SEIU Healthcare 775NW.”


Representative Tami Green, 28th Leg. District (Tacoma) on home care agency workers:
"I’m proud to have to have been the lead legislative sponsor for the home care agency parity law passed in 2006. Without the work of SEIU 775 on this bill, home care agencies would have been left behind on federal and state funding. Your union is fighting hard right now to preserve this law and save home care agencies from deep budget cuts.”


Representative Steve Conway, 29th Leg. District (Tacoma) on improving workers’ lives:
No single institution has done more for home care workers in Washington than SEIU Healthcare 775NW. Your union continues its work to improve the lives of workers by winning much better wages, benefits and training in Olympia.”


Representative Brendan Williams, 22nd Leg. District (Olympia) on our political victories:
SEIU’s political strength has made a huge difference in the lives of home care workers. I feel for the home care workers who are not in the union, because they don’t have people fighting hard in Olympia and Washington, D.C. to improve their lives.”