TSEU State Supported Living Center and State Hospital activists are not waiting for the next legislative session! For the last several months, union members across Texas have carried out a massive organizing push. The goal is to push back against forced holdover, low pay and to increase our union’s power by signing up new members and getting more current members active.
This is despite direct care workers in State Supported Living Centers and Hospitals having to face increasing turnover rates as work expectations climb and pay stagnates. Mandatory overtime, shortages of coverage, work place injuries and approval of leave are also major issues in SSLC’s and Hospitals. The union’s position is clear that staff should have the right to get paid immediately for all overtime worked, it should be voluntary and if the need for holdovers arises, there should be a fair system in place so employees know in advance when they may need to stay. Overtime along with the use of contract workers to fill vacancies are very costly to the agency, and that money would be better spent maintaining a fully staffed facility.
North Texas area State Hospital and SSLC organizing blitz
TSEU’s North Texas Organizing Team enjoyed a week of teamwork as they held hot dog cookouts at three area State Hospital/Schools last Fall. Kicking off the week at Terrell State Hospital on a Monday, moving over to Denton State School on Wednesday, and ending the week at North Texas State Hospital in Wichita Falls on Friday; everyone enjoyed the union fellowship, which has been sorely missed during the ongoing pandemic.
During the week-long blitz, 37 new members signed up to join TSEU in the struggle for better wages, benefits and working conditions!
