SEIU Gets Credit for State Benefits, While Collecting Millions in Scarce Medicaid Funds

Posted by Olivia Grady on Wednesday, August 17th, 2016 at 9:10 am - Permalink

The Center of the American Experiment published this article by Kim Crockett on August 12, 2016:

The 2014 vote to make SEIU the exclusive bargaining agent for all home-based PCAs, while legal under Minnesota’s labor law, was nonetheless unfair by almost any other measure. Only 5,800 people out of 27,000 sent in a ballot, with about 13% of all PCAs (less than 3,500) voting for the union.

We can and do argue with the law, and wonder if SEIU was able to essentially select many of the PCAs who voted. SEIU had access to the list of PCAs so SEIU was able to create a database of who was most likely to vote Yes or No and focus its field efforts on securing the vote.

That 2014 vote, and contract that followed, allows SEIU to collect voluntary dues from PCAs paid under Medicaid who chose to be members (or who unwittingly signed a card), thereby reducing funding for all PCAs—but here is the kicker. SEIU now speaks for all 27,000 PCAs, whether they voted for or against the union, or did not vote at all.

At the very least, this vote deserves a do-over with a majority of PCAs getting to vote.

To read the full article, please click here.