NO to Unionizing Personal Support Workers!

09/25/2009

By Ellen Garber Bronfeld

On September 14th, Charles Thomas, of WLS reported the following:

After only nine months as governor, Pat Quinn posed as the new darling of SEIU, 170,000 members strong. They have joined over 100,000 members of Teamsters Joint Council 25 to supply money and troops to Quinn's campaign effort.
The governor was asked at the union event, what, if anything, he was trading for the endorsements?
"I'm giving 100 percent of my time since I got sworn in on January 29th of this year to the common good and the public service of Illinois. That's all I'm giving," Quinn said.

In fact, what our Governor is giving to SEIU is 3,500 Personal Support Workers. This category of worker, provides assistance to individuals with developmental disabilities. By Executive Order 2009-15, Governor Quinn opened the door for SEIU to file a petition to seek an election to determine, in a simple majority vote of Home-Based Support Services Personal Support Workers, whether SEIU will represent them. Personal Support Workers were not seeking a collective bargaining agent. This has been forced by decree.
The Home-Based Support Services Program provides the critical, FLEXIBLE services that allow   individuals with significant disabilities, who have been fortunate to qualify for and receive Home-Based Support Services funding, to live a full and vibrant life in the community and save Illinois taxpayers the cost of residential services.
Children and adults enrolled in the Home-Based Support Services programs are able to hire people from their communities to assist them in performing the many activities of daily living that the rest of us take for granted such as work, volunteer, educational, and leisure opportunities. They also often help with the most intimate moments of life; eating, bathing, dressing, and toileting.
The ability to select, supervise, and decide what to pay these workers is critical to the success of the program. Many workers are family members who are often unable to work outside of their homes due to their caregiving responsibilities. Working in their own homes with their loved one allows them a modest income, in addition to the benefits their loved one with a disability enjoys.
Currently, individuals enrolled in the program, their family members, and employees are being hounded by union members. Union representatives have been coercive and deceptive in obtaining the needed signatures to enable them to proceed with a vote. Only recently has the state been sharing information about the process and that, due to pressure from Personal Support Workers who have been enraged by this forced effort by the state.
A union for Home-based Personal Support Workers means:
•   More confusing bureaucracy for already stressed and overwhelmed individuals and families.
•   Someone is telling families what to do and how to do it in their own homes.
•   Less flexibility and control of funds that provide the essential link between people with disabilities and access to the community.
•   Loss of flexibility to decide how much to pay employees. Many individuals now pay their employees more than what the union would bargain for.
•   Employees would pay union dues out of their paychecks. Because the Home-Based Support Services Program has a capped monthly allotment, the number of hours available would DECREASE because the cost per hour would INCREASE.
•   The union represents workers, not participants , that is, the individuals with disabilities, and ultimately does not have participants best interest in mind.
•   The individual’s ability to hire and fire could potentially be severely limited.

One personal support worker who works for her son wrote:
“I belong to a union and have for over 35 years. There are good and bad things about unions. As a mother and PSW I have no need for a union and do not want to pay union dues. How sad would it be if we had to belong to the union and they started telling parents you are not qualified for the job, or you have to be trained to do your job?”
There is little that can be done, at this point, about the process that has been set in motion, other than for us to attempt to communicate with as many families and Personal Support Workers as possible to educate them, to the extent we are able, so that they can make an informed choice about whether to vote for union representation or not. A ballot will be mailed to every Personal Support Worker on or around September 25th. There will be three choices, SEIU, AFSCME, and No Union
We recommend voting NO UNION. If you do not vote it is as good as voting yes. So, please vote, especially if you do not wish to have union representation.
Maybe, after this is all over, the Governor can figure out some better ways to give 100% to the common good and public service of Illinois citizens.

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