In Home Service Providers and Union Dues
吾唯知足-1307 07/21 48535.0/1
Mr. Lin is a home care worker. He makes $11.50 per hour providing in home supportive service to an elder couple. He grossed a total of $1532.94 from January to June, 2014, but he had to paid $128.00, or 8.4% of his pay to the union as union dues.
Mr. Lin is poor, he worked hard to get ends meet. One hundred twenty eight dollars could feed his family for a week. He doesn't want to join the union because he rather not pay the union dues. But he has no choice. In California, home care workers must join the union and paying union dues in order to get the job.
Each year, California spends about $1.6 billion dollars on IHSS (In-home Supportive Service), over $100 millions (my rough estimation) are taken by UDW, the Homecare Providers Union, as mandatory union dues.
Part of the union dues collected are used by unions to elect Democratic politicians who in turn reward union boss by making it a mandate for home care workers to join the union and pay union dues.
Subsidized by tax payers, this union due turned political contribution becomes an important source of Democratic Party campaign funding (95% of union political donation goes to Democratic Party).
On June 30 this year, The US Suprume Court ruled that home base care workers can't be forced to pay dues to an union they don't want to join. The ruling makes it possible for hundreds of thousands home care workers to keep the union dues they were forced to pay before.
Republican Party shoul challenge the union due mandate in court to help home care worker keep what they earn. It not only will help thousands of poor families, but also will reduce tax payer subsidized political contributions.
