SEIU: Service Employees International Union

Harris v. Quinn freed workers from paying for union political agenda

By Paul Kersey
08/28/2014
The Illinois Policy Institute’s recent report on union spending focused on Illinois’ big, statewide public-sector unions, but there are lots of important locals that are misusing their members’ funds as well. One of the most interesting is Healthcare IL-IN, a Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, local that played a controversial role in organizing day-care...

TAGS: Chicago, Harris v Quinn, labor, SEIU: Service Employees International Union, unions

State threatens to ‘fire’ moms and dads caring for children with disabilities

By Paul Kersey, Austin Berg
06/24/2014
In 2003 and 2009, governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn, respectively, issued executive orders to unionize parents who receive a modest Medicaid benefit to help pay for the cost of caring for their disabled children. Suburban Chicago mother Pam Harris has bravely taken this decision to the U.S. Supreme Court in what could be a...

TAGS: Harris v Quinn, Pam Harris, Pat Quinn, Rod Blagojevich, SEIU: Service Employees International Union

‘Fight for $15’ puts workers at risk

By Paul Kersey
06/11/2014
The Chicago Tribune recently reported on the links between the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, and various community organizing groups behind the campaign to increase Chicago’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. In her story, reporter Alejandro Cancino found that SEIU and its affiliates had spent at least $2 million on a campaign to organize...

TAGS: Chicago, Fight for 15, minimum wage, SEIU: Service Employees International Union, unions

A mom’s fight for justice: Harris v. Quinn

By Paul Kersey
01/21/2014
Pam is a mom in northern Illinois whose son, Joshua, needs constant care because of a rare genetic syndrome that causes severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Pam receives a modest subsidy from a Medicaid-waiver program that allows her to stay home and take care of Joshua. She isn’t a state employee; she just gets a...

TAGS: Harris v Quinn, Pam Harris, SEIU: Service Employees International Union, U.S. Supreme Court

Thankful for heroic moms

11/28/2013
What are you thankful for? We’re thankful for people like Pam Harris who stand up to the government when it threatens their rights. Pam is a mom in northern Illinois whose son, Joshua, needs constant care because of a rare genetic syndrome that causes severe intellectual and developmental disabilities. Pam receives a modest subsidy from a Medicaid-waiver...

TAGS: Harris v Quinn, Pam Harris, SEIU: Service Employees International Union

Government unions and wasteful spending

By Paul Kersey
10/18/2013
A look at self-reported government union spending reveals budgets fraught with waste. Unions exist to represent workers, so that’s where the bulk of their money should go. Yet among the state offices of the four largest government worker unions, the portion of spending that goes to representation ranges wildly, from nearly $0.60 out of $1...

TAGS: labor, SEIU: Service Employees International Union, unions