Republicans, advocates react to home health care worker court decision

HARTFORD, Conn. – Republican lawmakers and advocates for disabled people called upon the state Tuesday to halt plans to collect union fees from home health care workers in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling.

The high court’s decision in Harris v Quinn found that home health care workers in Illinois paid through Medicaid cannot be forced to pay fees to the union representing them.

State officials, including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Attorney General George Jepsen, are reviewing the case to determine what impact it will have on Connecticut’s recently-formed home health care workers union.

But opponents of the controversial unionization process seized Tuesday on the ruling. They called upon the state to stop plans to begin collecting union dues and what is called “agency fees” from workers who chose not to join the union but have nonetheless been represented by it in collective bargaining negotiations.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.