 Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed two bills July 22 that would have locked the
cash-strapped state into spending millions more for Service Employees
International Union-backed training programs, as well as wage hikes and health
care contributions for certain care providers and personal assistants.
Senate Bill 2536 would have mandated annual training programs for child care
providers involved in the Child Care Assistance Program. It also would have
required health care contributions from the state for these workers.
Senate Bill 2931 would have mandated annual training programs for home care
providers and personal assistants for individuals with disabilities. It also
would have required health care contributions from the state for these workers
and would have increased the minimum wage for these providers to $15 per hour,
which they would also receive while attending the new training sessions.
Not only would these bills cost the state over $100 million combined annually,
but according to the governor’s veto letters, they would also unnecessarily
codify provisions previously addressed through collective bargaining
negotiations. Legislating these provisions would remove expensive items, such as
mandatory paid training sessions, from negotiations going forward – regardless
of whether Illinois can afford them. These bills may have been yet another
attempt for a union to legislate its way around a governor who is a tougher
negotiating partner than union leaders have faced in the past.
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 Furthermore, the SEIU’s prior collective bargaining agreement for
personal assistants and home care providers, which expired June 30,
2015, already gave the union the right to run mandatory orientation
trainings. Not only did the state agree to pay up to $2 million a
year for these orientations, but the contract guaranteed the union
30 minutes at each training to advocate for membership and collect
applications. Interestingly, enforcement of these training sessions
began shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Harris v. Quinn
that these very providers could not be forced to pay union dues to
SEIU.
This legislation looks like an attempt by SEIU to lock in and build
upon concessions obtained through past collective bargaining. The
bill doesn’t explicitly mention union-recruitment time, but if SEIU
works that language into the next contract, the bill’s requirement
that training happen in-person would have guaranteed more
opportunities to pressure providers to join – all funded by
taxpayers.
Both bills may come up again in November or December when the
General Assembly meets to take up bills the governor vetoed. In the
spring legislative session, though, neither bill passed with the 71
votes needed in the House to guarantee a veto override.
Illinois Policy Action opposed both pieces of legislation, which
would codify costly, taxpayer-funded training sessions that have
provided little added benefit to attendees, but significant
recruiting opportunities for SEIU.
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