Against all odds: achieving collective action among home care workers in Oregon

This paper examines how home care workers in Oregon, a predominantly female, geographically dispersed, and economically undervalued workforce, were brought together to engage in collective action and extend their reach beyond the local union to civil society. Drawing on qualitative interviews with union staff and member activists, along with archival data, it documents how home care workers used social movement unionism to improve their working conditions in the early 2000s. The lessons from this case are especially relevant today given the growing demand for in-home care as a means to avoid being placed in institutionalized settings and the shortage of workers to meet the rising demand.