Illinois Home Health Care Workers to SEIU, AFSCME: Nope.
by Kristina Rasmussen

Illinois’s home health care workers have rejected an attempt to unionize providers under the auspices of SEIU and AFSCME. From CBS Chicago:
Illinois workers who are paid by the state to care for severely disabled people in their homes have voted down an effort to unionize.
More than 3,000 home health care workers mailed in their ballots this month; the ballots were counted on Monday and most of those workers voted not to join a union, according to Alan Symonette, an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association, which counted the vote.
The workers could have voted to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees or the Service Employees International Union, but more than half of them voted to remain non-union.
Michelle Malkin has the vote totals:
SEIU – 293 votes
AFSCME – 220 votes
NO UNION – 1018 votes
In July, Governor Pat Quinn signed an executive order allowing home care providers to join unions and negotiate for higher pay.
Why the resounding “no” vote? Ask Pam Harris, a provider for her disabled son: “Union contracts talk about suspension, probation, training, days off? It’s ridiculous, to draw a line from a Union to my own efforts to provide a meaningful life for my child.”
As pointed out by Rachel Culbertson, labor policy analyst at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, taxpayers could have been stuck footing the bill for new, costly union middlemen and higher wages. Culbertson argued that the unionization of home health care workers would be “almost certain to raise costs in the midst of the state’s budget crisis.”






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36 Comments
Perhaps decent, hardworking folks are waking up and realizing what a sham that UNIONS really are. They are notning more than inverted pyramid schemes, akin to multi-level marketing. Any vote against a UNION, is a vote for freedom, and America.
I'm remembering that in SC they voted out the union at Boeing. The only good this recession is that it has attention to all of the mass corruption in the unions and government! When I read the article, it stated that 300 votes had been mailed. Why do the totals only add up to approx. 1500. Yikes. Hopefully, they meant to say that 3000 were mailed out and only 1500 were returned……………
unless you work in a sweat shop, unions are useless.
as a forced union member, i can personally attest to the fact that they suck. bad. sure, they get me a raise every year- and then take more than half of the raise via union dues. i'd rather stand on my own merits, rather than be lumped in with a bunch of pro-union, lazy, nitwits.
bottom line- unions suck, and people are really waking up to that fact.
oops, I meant…….. More than 3,000 home health care workers mailed in their ballots this month, not 300 mentioned above
Unions, union thugs, community organizers, who were the original, the most successful?
Karl Marx
Vladimir Lenin
Leon Trotsky
Josef Stalin
Mao Tse Tung
Why has Chicago, Illinois historically been such a hotbed of Communist-Socialist-Unionist-Community Activity?
http://www-distance.syr.edu/schied.html
The front page of the December 25, 1873 issue of the Chicago Tribune did not wish residents of the city good cheer. On this particular Christmas day, news of the holiday season was carried on pages two and three. The entire front page of the newspaper dealt with organizations threatening the city. Under the headline, "Our Communists," the city's leading English language newspaper promised to give Chicagoans "A brief sketch of the Socialist movement" and to identify "The First Organization in Chicago" to introduce this new doctrine. There followed a remarkable series of articles, including a biographical sketch of the leader of the international communists, one "Carl Marx," and most surprisingly, a long summation of Marx's "peculiar ideas as expressed in his work The Communist Manifesto." The article quoted extensively from the Manifesto.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by greychampion and SavageNews, Cole Younger. Cole Younger said: Big Government Illinois Home Health Care Workers to SEIU, AFSCME: Nope. http://ow.ly/15W2hb [...]
You mean to tell us that the rich human experience of home health care is mostly found in the one to one relationship between someone in need and the caregiver? This is so wonderfully human!! These people probably love what they do, God only knows it's really hard work and it's not like an ER where people come and go; bonds and relationships develop. "Yeah, sorry about your infirmity, but uh, we're gonna strike now to get Kwanza as a holiday every year… Home health workers saw right through that crap and knew they would have to give up the part of the job that is most important: helping people.
Everytime I see an SEIU sticker on a car I note 3 other things
1. The driver looks like an overwieght drunken thug
2. An Obama sticker
3. Antisocial driving behavior that includes cut off's, hand gestures, and most seem to be talking to themselves
Ok it's not exactly scientific, but if it's any indication of the make up of the group they are clearly the bottom of the barrel when it comes to society.
In 1965 for my first job out of high school, summer only prior to going to college, I had to join the International Garment Workers union. Everyone knew I wasn't going to be on the job but a couple of months. Still, rules is rules, and after 30 days on the job I had to join. At least I was able to recoup my dues at the union picnic with free beer and brats.
Unions, once upon a time way back in history, may have had a legitimate purpose. Then the gangs got a solid foothold in them and they went insane. All they do now is perpetuate class envy.
Now I hope those 1,018 workers use their free time to organize (community organize perhaps?) to remove the corruption which gave their names out in the first place. Perhaps they could abolish public employee unions entirely.
You know SEIU is not going to just let this pass.
Is this the PROVERBIAL LIGHT at the end of a dismal and drab tunnel of union totalitarianism ? God, we hope so ! Good for you people !
[...] Illinois Home Health Care Workers to Unions; FOAD. I changed the original headline. More than 3,000 home health care workers mailed in their ballots this month; the ballots were counted on Monday and most of those workers voted not to join a union, according to Alan Symonette, an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association, which counted the vote. [...]
It's truly awsome to see an overwhelming rejection of both union gangs , espescially in an area that is dominated by labor unions. Unions = organized crime
Add Anita Dunn to your list!
I was involved with a Union when I was a younger man…….All they wanted was my dues and they never were really to interested in helping when you needed it. I have NO use for them and I advise against Unions. The Purple Peter Eaters can all go away!
Thats funny!
I have noticed the same things in other areas.
The Trades Unions; Carpenters, Electrical workers etc, usually have the back of their pickups full of beer cans.
The Pipeliners Union hands usually have the fanciest rigs, all with a Coleman cooler in the back for beer, and a whiskey bottle under the seat. Both groups drive eratically, seem to be dialing the cellphone, tuning the radio and talking to someone all at the same time.
Not to single out the Unions alone, as i am an equal opportunity stereotyper, I have noticed the vehicles with the most NASCAR stickers normally have the most body putty, with fenders flapping and usually have a door or fender that is a different color paint. Is that a cultural thingy?
One last observation, why do obese women drive these multi-colored mini vans in the fast lane of the interstate at 50 MPH? Further, there is something contradictory regarding a mini-van with a NASCAR sticker……..
Mike,
I can relate. All we as adults can go on, to formulate our opinions, to guide us, are our lives experiences. All my life, I have worked for myself; with one exception that drove me to do so. It is an experience that shaped me, and was the best experience I have had, for without it, I would have ended up being "one of them" rather than being one that employes them.
I worked in heavy industrial manufacturing for a brief stint at seventeen, building railroad cars. They were in the process of trying to organize a Union, and vote it in. I was very active, very involved, as I wanted to be informed. My personality then, is no different than it is now here at this website- when I get behind something, it is 100% dedication.
I went to the meetings, listened to the spchiel formed my own opinion and made up my own mind. I have held that stance for the past thirty-five years. Here it is: No fat, lazy, swarmy, smarmy, lazy, beer drinink, whiskey swillin', cigar chomping UNION thug is ever going to represent ME as a collective bargaining agent. Those Reps are the dregs of society. The only reason they want those jobs is they want the power and are too lazy to work. Ultimately, when it went to a vote, the UNION was voted in, and the day that happened, I gave my two weeks notice. The rest of the short story? Two years after the UNION was voted in, the Company went bankrupt. The UNION broke them, and 1,000 people lost their livelihoods. It was the best experience I ever had, and shaped my life.
To sum it up: No honest, hardworking person, who goes to work on time, shows up everyday prepared to do a days work for a days pay, maintains a work ethic and does a good job needs a UNION to hide behind. UNIONS are for the lazy, "problem" personnel.
I went to the meetings, listened to the spchiel formed my own opinion and made up my own mind. I have held that stance for the past thirty-five years. Here it is: No fat, lazy, swarmy, smarmy, lazy, beer drinink, whiskey swillin', cigar chomping UNION thug is ever going to represent ME as a collective bargaining agent. Those Reps are the dregs of society. The only reason they want those jobs is they want the power and are too lazy to work. Ultimately, when it went to a vote, the UNION was voted in, and the day that happened, I gave my two weeks notice. The rest of the short story? Two years after the UNION was voted in, the Company went bankrupt. The UNION broke them, and 1,000 people lost their livelihoods. It was the best experience I ever had, and shaped my life.
To sum it up: No honest, hardworking person, who goes to work on time, shows up everyday prepared to do a days work for a days pay, maintains a work ethic and does a good job needs a UNION to hide behind. UNIONS are for the lazy, "problem" personnel.
Unions have tried for many years to capture this group. As a former owner of a Home Health Care Agency, in Illinois this is the best thing that could happen for the Home Health Aides, and the seniors they provide services to. Unions would increase costs to the point that the state would simply reduce the number of seniors receiving care. Workers usually only are with seniors for 1-2 hour visits, and they would find their weekly hours reduced and their pay as well. Workers already do not receive the pay they deserve.
People need look no farther than Detroit to see a glaring example of what unions are doing to the economy and our country. There has never been a more union driven city or state than Detroit, MI. They were able to destroy and bankrupt the largest industry this nation has ever had. Not because of no one buying the cars, only the cost vs quality is different. Unless we want the entire nation to look like Detroit, we need to show unions for what they are.
What is not mentioned is that the vast majority of those home health workers are related to the care recipient and whether or not the union represented them they would still do the work. The only interest that the union has in this process is money and power. By getting the state to act in collusion SEIU would be assured of getting paid from the govt. money distributed to these care giving family members. Unions are only looking out for more dues and if they can get it from the government, all the easier to do.
Being a former SEIUmember, in disgust I applaude these workers for making the right decision. The unions are “hard” on the employer at first, then they work against the employees. They require the employer to make concessions and higher wages, only to take those “higher wages,” in the form of monthly dues. An, occasionally you had a meeting, in which you had to listen to some loudmouth SEIU employee giving advice. To those “stuck” in this quagmire-drop your membership, even if you are still required to pay association dues. The more that do that, will loosen the grip that SEIU has on your neck! SEIU is really just looking out for their “take,” your hard earned money. Not to mention, they are right in there with ACORN(CRIMINALS).
You watch now there will be complaints coming to CPS or adult care agencies. Anonomys REPORTS of abuse, on the part of their family members care. These people are NASTY and that is the only thing they can use against a mother taking care of her son, or husband, or whatever. They will now get mean so the people need to stay very vocal with the press and internet to let any tactics they start using against them out into the open so they can be shut down!
Election results like the one posted in the article are why unions want Card Check. Card Check will come to the floor soon, and will be defended vigorously by the likes of Nancy Pelosi.
Telling a union NO today just means that they will try again later. These unionizing efforts are kind of like Herpes, just no way to erradicate them and they keeping popping up a awkward times. Constant vigilance is the only treatment / therapy
Take THAT, SEIU! I know liberals that are fed up with your shit. Common sense is making a comeback.
[...] Big Government » Blog Archive » Illinois Home Health Care Workers to SEIU, AFSCME: Nope.. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
I do not believe in practical jokes; they are often cruel, or someone gets hurt. But I'd LOVE to put a NASCAR sticker on the bumper of a Toyota Pious. You know, right next to the Palin sticker I just put on a moment before.
:-{)}
[...] maybe they didn’t quite put it that way. But the point is, they voted against unionization, and for that I applaud [...]
I am guessing that they will find out who voted no and those people will need health aides themselves after all the broken skulls and kneecaps that will start plaguing them.
[...] Posted by acorcoran on September 29, 2009 Update October 21st: Big Government has yet another update here. [...]
I am a home health care worker and was practically harassed by both SEIU and AFSCME before the ballots arrived. I mean they were showing up at my door repeatedly. It really made me wonder why both groups were so aggressive. The whole idea of unionizing home workers is idiotic-even more so in state that’s bankrupt and likely to stay that way for years to come. I got lots of mail from them before but nothing after the vote. I finally remembered to check the internet to find out how the vote went and landed here. I’m not surprised at the result.
I do think diferrent because my family use another company .It’s secure and save prices.But next baby carseat I will consider this to be this baby carseat that you just present.Appreciate!!!
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