Expected Change in Dues Deduction

Many may remember Harris v. Quinn, which was a Supreme Court case decided back in 2014. That court case was backed by the Illinois Policy Institute, also known as IPI, and their deep-pocketed funders, like Bruce Rauner and other millionaires and billionaires who use their money to silence the voice of workers.

IPI and the Bruce Rauners’ of the world got the decision they wanted in that case and they hoped that it would translate to thousands of PAs leaving our union and ending their membership. They figured that if members left our union we wouldn’t have the resources we need to fight their horrible policies.

Harris v. Quinn was similar to other attacks that we’ve seen across the country on our ability as workers to join together and unite in our unions. Like right-to-work laws or another Supreme Court case that will be decided later this year, Janus v. AFSCME, these laws and court cases are just ways to undermine the power we have when we organize.

With Harris v. Quinn, IPI and Bruce Rauner were trying to weaken us. But little did they know, we were prepared and had already been hard at work signing up thousands of new union members across Illinois to keep our union strong. And it’s a really good thing we did because as soon as Bruce Rauner took office he started attacking PAs and the people we serve.

• First, he tried to kick thousands of people with disabilities and seniors out of home care programs by changing the DON score eligibility.
• Then, Rauner illegally capped our hours with his dangerous DHS Overtime Policy and he took away the rights of consumers to choose who provides their care.
• We’ve also been negotiating a contract with Rauner for almost three years and he’s proposed things like eliminating our health insurance, our paid training program, and he demanded a wage freeze. He’s also withholding the 48-cent raises that the General Assembly approved in the budget deal that was passed last summer.

The only thing that’s stood in the way of Rauner doing whatever he wants are the personal assistants in our union. It’s because of the power we have that we were able to stop his changes to the DON score. We also delayed the terrible overtime policy for two years and we continue to fight it. We’ve held the line at the bargaining table too, refusing to allow the governor to take us backward. As soon as we found out he was withholding our raises, we filed a class-action lawsuit that demands the release of our money and back pay to August 2017 when the raise was legally set to take effect.

Since we know that right-wingers are doing whatever they can to take away our voice, PAs in our union have decided that we must do everything we can to build the strongest union possible.

Harris v. Quinn didn’t have the effect IPI and Bruce Rauner wanted and we now see a new attack that’s coming from the Federal level to undermine our power, which would take away our right to have our union dues deducted from our paychecks through payroll deduction.

PAs in our union have launched the Home Care Fight Back Fund so we can start to pay our union dues directly from our bank accounts or credit cards – just like we pay our phone bills, utility bills, and any other type of bill. The Home Care Fight Back Fund will ensure that whether or not the Trump administration takes payroll deduction away, we will continue to have a powerful union. No court case or federal changes will be able to get in the way.

Hundreds have already signed up in the last month! The amount of dues won’t change and they’ll still be taken out when we get paid.

It’s essential that every PA sign up so we can build the strongest union possible.

For now, we will just pay $1 per month with this new system, but if payroll deduction rules change we will be ready to pay our full union dues directly from our bank accounts.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN TODAY. 

You can also attend one of the many March membership meetings across the state to sign up and to learn more. Click here to see all the meeting details. 

What’s in Rauner’s Budget Proposal

It seems like every year Bruce Rauner has a new attack on PAs and people with disabilities in his budget proposal, and this year is no different. As you probably already know, our union won a 48-cent raise in the state budget that was passed last summer for personal assistants. This raise is long overdue because we haven’t had one since our pay went up to $13/hour in December of 2014. It’s now more than 3 years since we have had an increase, and yet the cost of everything else keeps going up.

State lawmakers recognized that and wanted to do what was in their power to see that we got an increase to help reduce turnover and allow people to continue to do this important work.

Unfortunately, Bruce Rauner has refused to implement that raise which should have taken effect August 5, 2017. Our union filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of every PA to force the governor to follow the law and we are still waiting on a decision in that case.

However, in Rauner’s budget proposal, he wants to eliminate the raise altogether. And that’s not all – Rauner also wants to eliminate health insurance for Personal Assistants too!

Thankfully what Rauner wants is just a proposal – it’s up to us to convince our state lawmakers that his proposal is garbage and make sure they protect our raise and our health insurance in the budget that they ultimately pass. We have the power to stop this, we just have to stick together and do the work that’s necessary.

Join this fight by attending a March membership meeting. Click here to see all the meeting details. 

Stopping the Overtime Policy, Winning Our Raises, and Restoring Pay Dates

Governor Rauner’s overtime policy has been in effect since August of 2017. It caps hours at 45 hours per week for PAs and forces consumers to hire additional caregivers if their care plans go over 45 hours per week. It’s a dangerous policy that threatens the health and safety of people with disabilities. It’s unfair to PAs and it takes away the rights of consumers to choose who they want to provide their care – regardless of how many hours that person may work.

Our union and disability advocates have fought this policy since 2015 and we continue to do so. Last fall an administrative law judge ruled in our favor, saying that Rauner illegally implemented the policy because he refused to negotiate with our union over it.

Because PAs have a union, Rauner cannot just change the rules like this. He has to NEGOTIATE! The Rauner administration has appealed the judge’s decision though and now we are waiting for the Illinois Labor Relations Board to release a final decision. They have a meeting every month but so far they have not ruled on this issue. We are ready to spread the word quickly when we do get a decision so PAs know.

For those PAs who have received occurrences under the policy, DHS has said that they will not suspend or terminate anyone under the policy until the Labor Board releases their decision. There’s been a lot of misinformation about what these occurrences mean and some PAs have reported that they thought they were already suspended, but that is not the case. There have not been any suspensions or terminations due to the overtime policy so if you’ve been told otherwise by your DORS office, please report it to our Member Resource Center at 866-933-7348.

Regarding the fight to win the release of our $.48-cent raises, our class-action lawsuit is also ongoing. On Valentine’s Day in Chicago, PAs and people with disabilities did an action calling on the governor to have a heart and release our raises. He’s just wasting our time and taxpayer money with this and he should just follow the law and give this up.

As a reminder, our lawsuit demands that Rauner release the raises and it calls for back pay for every personal assistant for every hour worked since August 5, 2017. We don’t know when we will get a decision on that lawsuit, but we feel confident that we will prevail because the law is clear. Again, as soon as we have an update we will share it out widely.

Finally, our fight to restore the old pay dates and our negotiations over our new contract continue. Our bargaining team is standing strong at the negotiating table, maintaining our demands for raises and protection of our health insurance and paid training program. We also continue to demand a restoration of our old pay dates. Unfortunately, the State isn’t budging and there hasn’t been any progress. This is yet another example of why we have to elect a new governor this November. With Rauner, it’s been nothing but stagnation and unreasonable demands that eliminate the things we’ve fought hard to win. We’ve come so far and we cannot allow one man to take us backward.

This November is critical to the future of home care in Illinois. Our jobs and the services our consumers depend on are at stake. We have to talk to everyone we know about making sure Bruce Rauner is a one-term governor. Whoever wins the Democratic primary on March 20 will be a better option. All the candidates stand with home care workers and the people we serve – they’re committed to strengthening our programs and our jobs. Those are the kind of people we need in office.