Politics

Group Continues To Fight Forced Union Dues After Supreme Court Win

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The National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW) pledged Tuesday to continue efforts to end forced union dues in the aftermath of their success in the Supreme Court ruling Harris v. Quinn.

The case, which was decided in June, dealt with whether Illinois homecare providers could be forced to join a union when they didn’t want to. The court ruled in the providers’ favor.

“While Harris is already freeing tens of thousands of homecare providers from forced dues ranks, Foundation attorneys continue the legal battle to end such forced dues schemes and ensure the return of illegally-seized forced dues,” NRTW said in a press release.

The press release adds that “the Court struck down the scheme, ruling that individuals who indirectly receive state subsidies based on their clientele cannot be forced to pay compulsory union fees. The Court’s ruling renders unconstitutional similar homecare unionization schemes in effect in at least 14 other states.”

Susie Watts, one of the plaintiffs in Harris v. Quinn, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that without NRTW representation, “I wouldn’t have had my voice heard.”

“We were a group of moms that sought them out,” she added.

Watts was one of the homecare workers who would have been forced into paying union dues. She dedicates all her time as a homecare worker assisting her own daughter.

“I work for her,” Watts declared. “It’s not our job, it’s our life,:.

She sai that she is in no way antiunion but firmly believes that “it’s important that people have a choice.”

NRTW claims that more successes have followed the Supreme Court verdict.

“Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials last week notified Illinois home-based childcare providers that they will not demand $10 million in annual forced dues payments from the providers” the press release states.

“Then, late Friday, SEIU officials notified Massachusetts home childcare providers that they will no longer be forced to pay union fees. Massachusetts providers represented by Foundation staff attorneys had filed a federal suit challenging the SEIU unionization scheme in April.”

“In Minnesota, after several providers represented by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed a federal lawsuit last week, SEIU bosses also said that they will not to force personal care providers who care for family members to pay forced dues” the press release goes onto say.

In a letter issued to the NRTW, the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota states that they do “not intend to require employees who are not members of the exclusive representative to contribute a fair share fee for services rendered by the exclusive representative.”

Watts concluded, “I think you have to stand up for what you believe in.”

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