Lakeville mom takes on big labor

Question: How many moms does it take to stop the Service Employees International Union?

Answer: About 9,000, give or take. And Lakeville mother Kris Green is leading the way to get the SEIU out of the homes of parents who care for family members with special needs.

Five years ago, I joined a Minnesota program and became a personal care assistant (PCA) to my daughter. Though I had been caring for her for her entire life, joining this PCA program allowed us to receive a modest Medicaid subsidy to assist in her care. It also allowed Meredie to live at home, instead of in a government-run institution.

My husband and I consider this public support a generous gift that we have not taken for granted and for which we are very grateful. Meredie continues to live at home with us, where we know she is happy and safe under our care, instead of with a stranger who may or may not have her best interests at heart.

Unfortunately, this wonderful program is being looted by a third party that has no business intruding in the affairs of my family: the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Kris is just one of 27,000 personal care assistants (PCAs) who provide care for individuals with special needs. But the SEIU wants to siphon off a three percent cut of the Medicaid funds that go to her daughter’s care for union dues. Kris explained here in the Star Tribune.

A few years ago, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law declaring me and other PCAs “public employees.” The reasoning, I suppose, is that we receive some public support and that, therefore, we work for the state. That’s ridiculous, of course. I work for my daughter, not the state of Minnesota.

So why would the Legislature pass such a law, especially since we are not entitled to the pension or health care benefits that regular public employee have access to?

The answer is written right there in the law itself. We are considered public employees only for purposes of “collective bargaining.” In other words, only so that politicians in St. Paul can force us into a union. And that’s exactly what they did.

It takes courage to stand up to Big Labor but Kris Greene is out front on the drive to put the SEIU out of the PCA business in Minnesota. Supporters hope to force a decertification election by obtaining the signatures of some 9,000 like-minded PCAs across the state and spreading the word at MNPCA.org. Center of the American Experiment is backing Kris’ efforts through our Employee Freedom Project.

But first, we have to beat this union. They’re taking millions of dollars from us, millions of dollars from our vulnerable children and millions of dollars from the generous taxpayers who wanted to help us. That’s not only wrong, it’s downright rude.