US

Illinois Workers Forced Into Mandatory Union-Led Training Sessions

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
Font Size:

The Illinois Department of Human Services is requiring home health-care workers to take training classes coordinated by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the largest labor organizers in the U.S.

The forced sessions, in which SEIU is allowed to devote 30 minutes to union membership activities, come after two recent events: a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down in June which prohibited the automatic deduction of union dues from Illinois home health workers’ paychecks, and the indictments of 14 home health workers for fraud.

“You are required to participate in mandatory PAID training about Fraud, Abuse, Neglect, Exploitation, and the Basic Roles of being an Individual Provider,” reads a Sept. 26 letter sent from the Illinois Department of Human Services to the workers and obtained by The Daily Caller.

The training sessions, called Ensuring Quality Understanding & Integrity of Providers, or EQUIP, will be held at locations across the state.

Included in the mailer are directions for home health workers to contact SEIU in order to schedule their mandatory training sessions. The union is also holding six training sessions at its Chicago headquarters. Two of the sessions were held last month, while four others are scheduled throughout November and December.

According to a contract between the Illinois Department of Human Services and SEIU, the state pays the union up to $2 million annually to provide the training sessions. Sweetening the deal for the union is the 30 minutes out of the three-hour meetings it is allocated to devote to union membership activities.

“The Union shall have 30 minutes of access to trainings for the purpose of meeting and talking with Personal Assistants and distributing and collecting membership cards,” reads the contract.

The forced training sessions have mostly gone unreported. Shortly after the Harris v. Quinn decision in June, the Washington Examiner reported that the state was forcing new home health care workers to take orientation training sessions.

But according to a December 2013 “side letter” added to the contract between the state of Illinois and SEIU, not only was orientation training mandated, but all “incumbent” personal assistants were to be required to take the mandatory sessions as well.

The original contract, signed December 2012, stipulated that orientation training sessions were strictly voluntary. Attendees were still to be subjected to the half-hour union membership drive, and SEIU was allowed to send union information along with orientation materials in the mail, according to the contract.

The training sessions appear to be a partial response to fraud indictments issued for 14 home health-care providers earlier this year. In some cases, the indicted individuals allegedly lied about providing services altogether. Others allegedly lied about how many hours they were working. The Illinois Department of Human Services has also introduced new software that aims to cut down on fraudulent time sheet activity.

Specifics on the training sessions, including the reasons for the policy change, are unclear. The Illinois state employee responsible for coordinating the Home Services Program was not available for comment.

If the mandatory sessions lead to increased union membership enrollment, SEIU would stand to recoup some of the $10 million it is expected to lose annually because of the Harris v. Quinn decision.

In that case, suburban Chicago mother Pam Harris challenged a law enacted by Gov. Pat Quinn in 2009 which forced the home health workers to pay union dues to SEIU. But Harris, who cares for her adult son Josh, who is disabled, sued. In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the forced union dues violated Harris’ and other home health workers’ First Amendment rights.

One of the groups that filed an amicus brief on behalf of Harris in the case slammed the arrangement between SEIU and the state.

“What SEIU is doing is forcing people into a room, paying them to be there, and they have a captive audience where they can push union membership on unsuspecting participants,” Illinois Policy Institute vice president Kristina Rasmussen told TheDC.

“What’s frustrating about all of this is taxpayers are paying for people to be there to hear the union pitch.” noting that the forms do not mention that participants are going to get “the hard sell” for union membership.

Follow Chuck on Twitter