Supreme Court To Rule On Public Sector Unions
From the Chicago Tribune
The Supreme Court will is set to decide on a case involving Chicago-area in-home care providers that could end up dealing a major blow to public-sector labor unions.
Illinois, California, Maryland, Connecticut and other states have long used Medicaid funds to pay salaries for in-home care workers to assist disabled adults who otherwise might have to be put in state institutions. The jobs were poorly paid and turnover was high.
Over the last decade, more than 20,000 of these workers in Illinois voted to organize and won wage increases by joining the Service Employees International Union.
But the National Right to Work Foundation, an anti-union advocacy group, sued Gov. Pat Quinn and the SEIU, accusing the state and union of conspiring to relabel private care providers as state employees so they could collect more union fees.
"This scheme is nothing more than pure political payback," said Patrick Semmens, a director of the group, complaining that unions have helped fund Quinn's campaign.
They are also challenging whether workers who don't want to participate in the union should be forced to pay dues, a longtime union practice known as "fair share" fees. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of several mothers who take care of their disabled adult children at home and resent the idea of paying about $50 a month in union dues.
A federal judge in Chicago and the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the suit, citing Supreme Court precedents dating to 1977 that allow unions representing teachers and other public employees to collect fees from all workers, including those who object to the union.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Tribune
The Supreme Court will is set to decide on a case involving Chicago-area in-home care providers that could end up dealing a major blow to public-sector labor unions.
Illinois, California, Maryland, Connecticut and other states have long used Medicaid funds to pay salaries for in-home care workers to assist disabled adults who otherwise might have to be put in state institutions. The jobs were poorly paid and turnover was high.
Over the last decade, more than 20,000 of these workers in Illinois voted to organize and won wage increases by joining the Service Employees International Union.
But the National Right to Work Foundation, an anti-union advocacy group, sued Gov. Pat Quinn and the SEIU, accusing the state and union of conspiring to relabel private care providers as state employees so they could collect more union fees.
"This scheme is nothing more than pure political payback," said Patrick Semmens, a director of the group, complaining that unions have helped fund Quinn's campaign.
They are also challenging whether workers who don't want to participate in the union should be forced to pay dues, a longtime union practice known as "fair share" fees. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of several mothers who take care of their disabled adult children at home and resent the idea of paying about $50 a month in union dues.
A federal judge in Chicago and the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the suit, citing Supreme Court precedents dating to 1977 that allow unions representing teachers and other public employees to collect fees from all workers, including those who object to the union.
Read more in our daily News Update...