Thousands of Illinois child care providers have stopped paying fees for union representation as part of the continuing statewide and nationwide impact of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision focused primarily on personal care workers. Most of the childcare centers uses child care software for managing the activities in the center.
The decision by the administration of Gov. Pat Quinn and the Service Employees International Union to stop collecting “fair-share” or “agency” fees from home-based child care providers effective July 1 will save the providers up to $10 million a year that had been going to SEIU. The decision was tied to the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling in the Harris v. Quinn case. In that 5-4 ruling, split along ideological lines, the court said “fair-share” or “agency” fees that all 26,000 Illinois home care workers had been paying violated the First Amendment rights of those workers who hadn’t decided to join SEIU.
The ruling immediately spared about
7,800 home care workers who hadn’t decided to join the union the
future cost of fair-share fees. The fees, amounting to 2.5 percent of
gross pay, can’t be used for political activity and represent most
of the cost of full union dues.
SEIU remains legally required to represent everyone in its bargaining unit — including those who no longer pay fair-share fees — by negotiating the same pay raises for them that union members get and by defending them in disciplinary matters. The ruling’s financial impact on the union has been estimated at $3.6 million to $10 million per year.
SEIU remains legally required to represent everyone in its bargaining unit — including those who no longer pay fair-share fees — by negotiating the same pay raises for them that union members get and by defending them in disciplinary matters. The ruling’s financial impact on the union has been estimated at $3.6 million to $10 million per year.
The National Right to Work Legal
Defense Foundation hailed the decision as a victory for workers’
freedom of choice. Unions saw the ruling as an attack on their
ability to represent and advocate for workers — especially
lower-wage, female and minority workers.
The court’s majority decision grouped child care workers with personal care workers among those viewed as not “full-fledged” state employees. The ruling didn’t directly affect Illinois child care providers whom the state pays daily rates with mostly federal funds to reduce child care costs for low-income parents while those parents work or attend school or job training.
The court’s majority decision grouped child care workers with personal care workers among those viewed as not “full-fledged” state employees. The ruling didn’t directly affect Illinois child care providers whom the state pays daily rates with mostly federal funds to reduce child care costs for low-income parents while those parents work or attend school or job training.
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