A new U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows state-paid home health workers to opt out of paying union dues could upend one of the most sweeping union expansion efforts in Minnesota history.
In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled Monday that thousands of home health care workers in Illinois cannot be required to pay fees that help cover a union's costs of collective bargaining. The court said that while the workers are paid through state subsidies to provide care, they are not full state employees and do not have to pay union dues.
The decision could have far reaching implications in Minnesota, where the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been working to unionize home health workers while the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has been doing the same for child-care workers.
Local unions believe roughly 30,000 state-paid home child-care providers and home health workers are primed to organize, as the state tries to hold rates down and workers have had little success pressing for higher subsidies.
In a statement released late Monday night, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota President Jamie Gulley said, "Home care workers in Minnesota have made clear to our union that no court case will stop them from their efforts to form a union with us to improve home care for the people that they serve. Their work is critical, and we know they will continue to fight alongside the seniors and people with disabilities they serve to improve home care for Minnesota families."
Child-care lawsuit ongoing
On Monday, child-care owners said they are optimistic the high court's opinion will apply to their situation.
"The two cases are nearly identical, which gives us hope," said Rochester child-care provider Jennifer Parrish, who leads the Coalition of Union Free Providers. "Child-care providers didn't want this. The taxpayers of Minnesota didn't want this."
Parrish has sued the state to block unionization of child-care workers. Parrish v. Dayton is before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which put the case on hold pending the Supreme Court ruling.