Wisconsin Private Health Care Workers Vote to Unionize with AFSCME

August 23, 2012

MADISON, Wisc. – Nearly 300 employees of Journey Mental Health Center voted overwhelmingly last week to join AFSCME Council 40.

Journey is a private, non-profit organization. Its employees provide mental health services from nine sites in Dane County, Wisconsin.

Last year’s historic opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s attack on public employee rights helped sow the seeds of unionization at Journey, said Kevin McConeghey, a 20-year worker there who helped lead the union organizing drive. Journey employees identified with this larger struggle.

“This was not about money,” McConeghey said. “It is about values, and how workers are valued, and whether they are given a voice.”

The National Labor Relations Board will take 10 days to certify the results of the election. After that, Council 40 will notify the employer and propose the start of contract negotiations.