History
Home Healthcare Workers of America (HHWA) and their parent union, the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades (IUJAT) are trying to position themselves as a union advocating for homecare and other healthcare workers. The facts described in this website create a different picture.
International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades (IUJAT) and its affiliate Home Healthcare Workers of America (HHWA) are creations of Steven Elliott and controlled by the Elliott family. Elliott’s history in the labor movement is instructive in understanding how HHWA and IUJAT came to be.
According to reporting by Tom Robbins in the Village Voice:
Elliott began working for United Service Workers Union (USWU) in 1979, the same year that the union’s president, Bernard Tolkow, pleaded guilty to lying to federal officials about his investments in a union-funded real estate scheme.
In 1999, six years after USWU affiliated with SEIU, USWU and Steven Elliott left that union after being criticized for extensive union raiding and bargaining substandard contracts.
Then Elliott and USWU affiliated with the Transportation Communication Union, a railroad union with a rapidly declining membership. As an AFL-CIO union, USWU continued to raid and undermine working standards. This led to the NYC Labor Council and the AFL-CIO's national building trades department passing resolutions condemning the union.
In 2002, USWU and Elliott were expelled from the TCU under the threat of sanctions from the AFL-CIO.
A 2003 US District Court order lays out the next phase of USWU’s history:
It was at this point that USWU took over the International Union of Journeymen Horseshoers, a moribund AFL-CIO affiliated union with just 55 aging members.
Steven Elliott’s daughter, Lori Ames, became USWU President in 2001, with Elliott becoming President Emeritus.
Elliott became President of the Horseshoers at a 2002 “special convention” of that union. The Horseshoers convention was attended by six Horseshoers officers, seven officers and employees of USWU, and an attorney. First the Horseshoers constitution was amended to allow non-members to hold office, then the incumbent officers resigned en masse. A now former Horseshoers officer “nominated a new slate of officers, consisting entirely of salaried USW officers or employees, who were unanimously elected.”
The Horseshoers was rebranded as the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades (IUJAT).
According to Department of Labor filings, IUJAT has spawned a number of affiliate unions in a variety of industries - all run by members of the Elliott family, including Home Healthcare Workers of America (HHWA).
In recent years IUJAT has marketed itself as a reputable union. Jonathan Ames, Steven Elliott’s son-in-law, took over as president of IUJAT in 2023, while HHWA and other IUJAT locals began developing relationships with politicians in New York and New Jersey by presenting themselves as advocates for progressive policies and COVID-19 pandemic protections.