Union Issues Debit Cards to Fight Trump Rule Choking Dues
The U.S.'s largest home healthcare union, which represents approximately 385,000 in-home healthcare workers in California, is now offering debit cards as a way for workers to easily deposit union dues without having to write a check, due to a proposed new rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that would prevent the ability of states to send Medicaid money to "third parties" (such as unions). Medicaid funds the salaries of home health aides, which would prevent unions such as Service Employees International Union Local 2015 from collecting union dues as part of employee paychecks. Many of SEIU Local 2015 members are Medicaid-funded home health aides who were already used to the idea as a 2014 Supreme Court case had already banned mandatory fees for Medicaid workers. The debit cards are an example of how unions are struggling to find ways to continue to be funded, with the Supreme Court case in June preventing public sector unions from collecting fees from non-members and with July's proposed rule affecting the ability to collect voluntary dues as well.
See "Union Issues Debit Cards to Fight Trump Rule Choking Dues", Josh Eidelson, Bloomberg, October 9, 2018