The Republican Party won a victory in their War on Workers, because the Fascist Five Injustices of SCROTUS (Republican Constitutional VD) ruled against labor in Harris v. Quinn. They determined that it violates the free speech of home health care workers to have to either join a Union or pay a fee to a union for their collective bargaining representation. In so doing they violated precedent and ignored the Constitution, because this an economic issue, not a speech issue.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dealt a setback to unions by ruling that in-home care workers in Illinois who are paid by the state are not similar enough to full-fledged government employees to be compelled to pay union dues.
The case gathered national attention because it questioned the ability of unions to collect dues from public sector workers. The court said in-home care workers are not full-fledged public employees, thus narrowing the decision to these particular workers.
The question stems from Harris v. Quinn, an Illinois case involving in-home care workers. Illinois and other states have long used Medicaid funds to pay their salaries to assist disabled adults who otherwise might have to be placed in state institutions. The jobs were poorly paid, and turnover was high.
A Chicago chapter for the Service Employees International Union began organizing the workers and pushing the state for higher wages. In 2003, an executive order by then. Gov. Rod Blagojevich designated them as “public employees,” allowing the union to collectively bargain with the state over their benefits and wages. Gov. Pat Quinn later expanded the designation to include personal assistants in the state’s disabilities program.
In 2010, the National Right to Work Foundation, an anti-union advocacy group, sued Quinn and the union, accusing the state and union of conspiring to relabel private care providers so the union could collect union fees…
Inserted from <Chicago Tribune>
Although the five goose-steppers claim that the decision is a narrow one, they lied. It breaks new ground and sets a precedent that is sure to spawn future similar lawsuits. Effectively this allows home health care workers to benefit from union representation for free, greatly reducing the incentive workers have to join the union.
What the above article neglected, perhaps intentionally, to report is that the SEIU has done a damn fine job for home healthcare workers, increasing their wages from $7.00 per hour in 2003 to $11.65 today to $13.00 later this year. The point is, paying a small fee for so much more pay was a boon, not a hardship to workers who chose not to join the Union.
I’m sure I’ll have more video coverage of this to post later this week, but the only response I could find that didn’t goose-step comes from Oregon’s SEIU Local 533.
This issue will need close watching in future, because you can be cure this will not be the end of it.
13 Responses to “SCROTUS Screwed Workers”
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They are really on a roll this week. Their decision had nothing to do with Freedom of Speech. I'm beginning to wonder if the 5 of them have even read the Constitution.
I should have said 4 of them because I think John roberts just flips a coin when a decision has to be reached because he is not consistent at all.
Roberts just finds a way to sticki in the dagger while appearing moderate.
Did any of the five graduate from law school? Did any of them even attend? I've seen better legal decisions rendered in kangaroo courts.
If Patty is right about Roberts doing a coin-flip, I fear the coin is loaded. Regardless whether this decision is narrow or not, the Five are committed to union-busting.
Would someone please explain to me why the party that is so vocal and condemnatory when it comes to freeloading (by the poor – it's OK if you are a corporation) doesn't see what freeloaders employees are who have representation and benefit from it, but won't pay a dime for union dues?
RepubliSpeak Dictionary – freeloading: any activity that does not transfer wealth from the poor and middle classes to billionaires.
Oh, yeah. Sorry, I lost my head.
It is too bad that there is no readily available cure for Republican Constitutional VD! The only cures I know are impeachment of the Injustices, retirement or death. These all take to long to correct the disease. At least syphilis is treatable with antibiotics.
JD — "Would someone please explain to me why the party that is so vocal and condemnatory when it comes to freeloading (by the poor – it's OK if you are a corporation) doesn't see what freeloaders employees are who have representation and benefit from it, but won't pay a dime for union dues?"
I'm sure the Republicanus/Teabaggers know exactly what they are doing and don't condemn these employees for "freeloading" because this situation weakens the unions. The union has all these people who have all the same benefits (which probably includes strike pay) but these people don't contribute any revenue in the form of union dues to the union. Just that fact could greatly shorten a strike. Also, dues paying union members are likely not going to be too happy with non dues paying members thus creating a schism in the union.
The Republicanus/Teabaggers are nothing more than divisive weasels (my apologies to the cut little weasels of Mother Nature!).
It's a long term cure. 40 years with no Republicans in the White House and Democratic Senate majorities.
Anything remotely related to Republicans or Tea Partiers is out to bust unions. Unions are the only reason we had a middle class for so many years. We are going back to the days when the owners have all the money and people work for wages that will not support them. Too many are enjoying the benefits of unions without paying dues now. This happened in state government in Kentucky. It is illegal here for state workers to form a union, but a small group formed a coalition to take state workers problems to the legislature. They needed financial aid. Very few State workers stepped up to help them, but they surely enjoyed the pay raises they received because of the coalition.
Bingo!
The Corporate Court of the United States (formerly known as the Supreme Court of the U.S.) consists of nine people and 14 assholes. Go figure. The five justices that account for ten of the assholes must be enormously proud of themselves, having screwed everyone in the country not of the billionaire class. Repeatedly.
Theys should be happy with that. They think they should get two votes anyway.