Catherwood LibraryILR School

Labor movement leaders have said that union membership may languish in the U.S. because labor laws are stacked to favor employers, making it difficult to organize and maintain a union. However, the SEIU Healthcare affiliate in Michigan has seen an 80% drop with the introduction of legislation which made joining or leaving a union much easier by reclassifying some 55,000 home health workers as ?non-public? employees. Several other states including California, Vermont, Illinois, Oregon, Massachusetts, Maryland, Missouri Connecticut, and Washington have classified home health workers who receive Medicaid benefits as ?public? employees, but a Supreme Court, Harris v. Quinn, case may overturn that classification, or give employees an option to opt out.