High court ruling on home-care workers may affect Mass.
A small business group in Massachusetts is hailing a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether states can force non-union home care workers to join labor unions if their clients receive public subsidies to pay for services.
In a statement Monday, the Massachusetts chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business predicted the ruling in Harris v. Quinn, barring states from compelling home care providers to join labor unions “has big implications for private home care providers and potentially other small businesses in the Bay State.”
NFIB said Massachusetts has a law similar to the one addressed in the ruling, an Illinois directive designating certain home care workers as “public employees.” Said Vernon, “Forcing workers to join unions is fundamentally unfair under any circumstances. But it is absolutely chilling that government can reclassify private sector workers as government workers simply because public money is indirectly involved.”
Amalgamated Transit Union International President Larry Hanley said the ruling would lead to decreased wages and benefits for public employees. “The Supreme Court, today, struck down the collective bargaining rights of public employees and virtually told all workers that their American Dream might actually become an American Nightmare,” Hanley said in a statement. “No one should be fooled into thinking that this decision is only about public sector workers. In doing the dirty work for the Koch brothers and their ilk, the high court lowered the bar that all employers will feel obligated to meet in compensating their workers.”
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