Washington, DC (November 29, 2011) \u2013 With the help of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, several Illinois personal care providers are asking the Supreme Court to invalidate a scheme enacted by Governor Pat Quinn and his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, aimed at forcing them into union ranks. <\/p>\n
Pam Harris and seven other Illinois care providers filed a petition for a writ of certiorari today, challenging the Governors\u2019 forced-unionism scheme on the grounds that it violates the Constitution\u2019s guarantees of free expression and association, effectively forcing providers to subsidize union officials\u2019 lobbying efforts.<\/p>\n
The petition stems from a class-action lawsuit filed by the providers after Quinn signed an executive order designating 4,500 individuals who offer in-home care to disabled persons as \u201cpublic employees,\u201d thus rendering them eligible for unwanted union organizing. <\/p>\n
As a result of Quinn\u2019s order, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union bosses have been competing to acquire monopoly bargaining control over this newly-created class of public employees. <\/p>\n
Quinn\u2019s executive order mirrored one issued by disgraced former Governor Rod Blagojevich, which designated over 20,000 personal care providers as state workers for the purpose of forcing them into union ranks. Quinn\u2019s executive order expanded Blagojevich\u2019s directive to cover an additional 4,500 providers who were not included in the original order.<\/p>\n
In a 2010 mail-in vote, homecare providers emphatically rejected unionization by a two-to-one margin. But because of Quinn\u2019s executive order, they\u2019ll continue to face unionization drives until they capitulate. The personal care providers covered by Blagojevich\u2019s executive order have already been forced to pay union fees to the SEIU.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy primary concern is that someone else will be telling me how to best care for my son,\u201d said Harris, who provides personal care for her adult son and is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. \u201cUnion dues would be a deduction from what we have available to provide for my son\u2019s needs. And then I would be giving my money to a union to exercise their political muscle on issues I may vehemently disagree with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis scheme is nothing more than pure political payback,\u201d said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. \u201cGovernor Quinn\u2019s campaign was enthusiastically supported by the SEIU, and now he\u2019s returning the favor by helping force home-based care providers into union ranks. We hope the Supreme Court takes the case and eventually invalidates this blatant union power grab.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, DC (November 29, 2011) \u2013 With the help of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, several Illinois personal care providers are asking the Supreme Court to invalidate a scheme enacted by Governor Pat Quinn and his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, aimed at forcing them into union ranks. <\/p>\n
Pam Harris and seven other Illinois care providers filed a petition for a writ of certiorari today, challenging the Governors\u2019 forced-unionism scheme on the grounds that it violates the Constitution\u2019s guarantees of free expression and association, effectively forcing providers to subsidize union officials\u2019 lobbying efforts.<\/p>\n
The petition stems from a class-action lawsuit filed by the providers after Quinn signed an executive order designating 4,500 individuals who offer in-home care to disabled persons as \u201cpublic employees,\u201d thus rendering them eligible for unwanted union organizing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[888],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n